A 14-year-old boy who became obsessed with a classmate after she ended their brief relationship and refused to date him launched a frenzied knife attack on her in a shop in broad daylight, captured in chilling CCTV footage that shows him walking towards her with terrifying calm before striking again and again.
The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, waited in a car park on Upper Churnside in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, on Sunday 15 March 2026. When the 14-year-old girl went inside to buy a drink, he followed her in with a six-inch kitchen knife concealed in his jeans pocket.
Footage from inside the store shows the girl at the counter as the boy enters through the front door. He walks “horrifyingly slowly” towards her with his hands in his pockets, then suddenly lunges, grabbing her forcefully and slamming her against a sweets rack. He pulls the blade and stabs her repeatedly, police said the CCTV appears to show up to ten attempts, targeting her neck, hands and face as she struggles.
The shopkeeper, seeing the attack unfold, bravely grabbed the teenager and tried to pull him away. The boy then turned on him, striking the man in the back with the knife and forcing him to flee. In those seconds, the girl broke free, ran out of the shop and raised the alarm at a neighbouring property.
The boy fled the scene but was arrested nearby. Officers found the knife still in his jeans pocket and a fresh cut on his hand.
The girl suffered cuts to her neck, hands and face plus bruising to her back. The shopkeeper received a cut to his back. Both were treated at the scene. Detective Superintendent Ian Fletcher later said anyone watching the footage would conclude she was “very lucky not to have very serious, if not fatal injuries.”
The pair had briefly dated before the girl ended the relationship in December 2025. After she rejected his advances, he began bombarding her with messages using fake social media accounts until she blocked him. Police described his behaviour as obsessive – the kind more commonly seen in adult domestic violence cases than among 14-year-olds.In a victim personal statement read to Bristol Crown Court, sitting as a youth court, the girl described the lasting terror. “I’m scared and nervous anywhere that I go. Even if someone puts their hand up next to me, I flinch as I don’t know what they are about to do to me. I know this is as a result of the incident, as I wasn’t like this before.
“I was in so much shock after it happened. I didn’t leave the house for a couple of days. I never thought something like this would ever happen to me, or anyone I know at all.“I’ve been having nightmares since; I relive the incident, but in these dreams it happens in different places. I sleep in the dark, but when I wake, I constantly feel like there is a presence in the room. I can’t stop thinking about it.
“This is going to affect my ability to trust people. I’m now getting dropped off to work because I don’t want to be outside on my own. I shouldn’t have to feel like this as a teenager in my own area.”
The boy pleaded guilty to wounding with intent, inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent and possession of a bladed article in a public place. On 21 September 2026 he was given a 12-month referral order and a three-year restraining order. He had already spent three months in custody. Judge Ian Lawrie called the stabbing a “very troubling event” but said he did not regard the boy as a danger, adding: “He’s still young. And he is capable of learning.”
Det Supt Fletcher described it as “a frenzied attack that took place in broad daylight” and likened the case to the Netflix drama Adolescence. “This is an offender who was clearly obsessed with our victim,” he said. “There was a brief period where they were dating. That was stopped, she no longer wanted a boyfriend, and that obsessive behaviour has built.
”The shopkeeper who intervened was praised for acting “very bravely.” He remains “very shocked.” The girl, whose mental health has been significantly affected, now lives with constant fear in her own town.
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