Young Frome man sentenced to life for Radstock murder
16-year-old Charley Bates died after being stabbed in the chest during a fight last summer
Last updated 11th Apr 2023
A teenager from Frome, who admitted fatally stabbing a 16-year-old boy during a fight last summer, but claimed it was an accident, has been sentenced to life in prison for murder.
Joshua Delbono (19), from Slipps Close in Frome, admitted attacking 16-year-old Charley Bates in Radstock on 31 July 2022, but argued he was acting on instinct in self defence.
A judge at Bristol Crown Court has ruled he will serve a minimum of 21 years behind bars before becoming eligible for parole.
During the trial we heard Charley and several friends had been socialising in the car park of Radstock library, when Delbono, his girlfriend and several others arrived in two cars.
We heard how Charley approached one of the cars and began having a fight with one of Joshua's friends, who quickly found himself getting beaten up on the floor by Charley and two others.
At this point Delbono left his own car with a knife he had inside and stabbed Charley, before he and his friends drove away.
Laying out their argument, defence barrister Charles Row KC said Charley's group were the aggressors.
He said Delbono "genuinely believed" he had seen a knife in the waistband of one of Charley's friends and so only intervened thinking his friend's life was in danger.
"Josh wasn't looking for trouble," he said.
"He was terrified for his friend’s life."
The defence pointed out Delbono had not been in trouble with the police before and had no history of violence, arguing in leaving his car with a knife, all Delbono wanted to do was scare Charley and his friends.
“Grabbing that knife that was to hand…he got out thinking all I want to do is to scare him off," Row KC said.
Delbono claimed he was quickly attacked by Charley and so in his own defence Delbono "lashed out" on instinct.
“Josh had no idea that one of his punches caused a deep injury," Row KC said.
“All Josh knows is that he was delivering punches, on instinct."
However, in contrast, the prosecution led by Adam Vaitilingam KC, argued Delbono knew exactly what he was doing and self defence "doesn’t even raise its head as a defence here”.
They agreed Charley approached Delbono's group and that Delbono's friend was initially losing the fight, but they point out there is no evidence showing anyone other than Delbono was in possession of a knife at the time.
“What Joshua Delbono did was completely unnecessary and over the top, even on his own account," Vaitilingam KC said.
“He accepts that he was never threatened with a knife.
“It’s quite hard to imagine a case in which it would be an act of reasonable self defence to stab an unarmed person to death."
The prosecution also noted that Delbono drove to a nearby lake after the incident to dispose of the knife and also burned the t-shirt he was wearing, which had been splattered with blood.
While taking the stand in his own defence Delbono accepted this was a mistake and said his friends had told him to do it.
Were other knives involved?
During the trial it was also revealed that Charley had a rucksack with him when Delbono and his friends arrived and that he had a knife inside.
It was also revealed that Charley's friends initially failed to disclose this to the police, only admitting a knife was in his bag at a later date.
However, Charley's friends all insisted he had left the bag behind when he went to confront Delbono's friend and while Delbono insists he saw a knife in the waistband of one of Charley's friends, he admits he was never threatened with one.
There is no evidence to corroborate Delbono's account that anyone else was in possession of a knife at the time.
The impact and judge's remarks
During the sentencing His Honour Judge Hart said he dismissed "as a complete falsehood", Delbono's account that he had seen one of Charley's friends with a knife.
He said he was entirely satisfied that Charley's knife never left his rucksack and also shared his belief that the speed at which Delbono used his own knife after leaving his car meant he had no intention of merely scaring Charley and his friends away.
“Charley was defenceless and almost certainly backing away with his hands up," Judge Hart said.
“When there was absolutely no reason to do it at all you stabbed him through the heart.”
Charley's girlfriend, sister, mum and dad all gave victim impact statements, with Charley's mum Helen Freeman reading her own.
The others were delivered by a family liaison officer from Avon and Somerset Police.
“There are no words that exist to adequately convey the loss of my beloved son," Helen said.
“My Charley boy was stolen from me in a needless, senseless and callous act of swift brutality.”
She described how her last words to her son had been "don't be late".
“How I wish I had said I love you Charley boy, because the next time I saw him was at the morgue."
Knife crime in Avon and Somerset
While incidents of this nature are mercifully rare, this verdict comes little over a week after Avon and Somerset Police announced an expansion of their anti knife crime campaign.
The latest statistics for the region show the number of people choosing to carry a weapon is up by 4.2 per cent.
Chief Inspector Mike Vass, Avon and Somerset Police’s Lead for knife crime said, “We want to do everything we can to encourage people to safely discard of any weapons or knives they may be carrying so we can prevent street-based knife crime.
"Knife crime ruins lives. We want to spread the message that it is not ‘normal’ or safe to be carrying a knife."
On Monday 3 April Avon and Somerset Police installed two knife surrender bins out in the public for the first time; one in Bristol's Castle Park and another at The Park Centre in Knowle.
Others have existed since 2016 but only at police stations or local authority buildings.
Anti knife crime campaigner Leanne Reynolds said: "It might not be knife crime itself leading to severe incidents but young people definitely carrying bladed articles has increased.
"I feel as up and down the country, it's getting worse and I would just like to see a change and give young people opportunity to put that blade down.
"This is the start of something that will continue within our communities."
You can read more about the police's work to tackle knife crime here.