Closing speeches heard at Ava White murder trial

A teenager accused of the murder of Ava White showed a "callous disregard" when he took selfies, ate crumpets and played a computer game after her stabbing, a jury has been told.

The 14-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claims he accidentally stabbed Ava, 12, in self-defence after a row over a Snapchat video in Liverpool city centre on November 25 last year.

In her closing speech on Monday, Charlotte Newell QC, prosecuting, said the defendant did not want to admit that he knew he had stabbed the schoolgirl as he ran from the scene, before abandoning his knife and coat.

She said: "Otherwise it would expose his callous disregard for Ava, taking selfies, eating crumpets and playing Call Of Duty knowing he had stabbed her."

The jury was shown CCTV footage of the boy and his friends after the stabbing going into a shop, where they bought butter which he said was for crumpets and he was seen arranging his hair for a selfie.

Ms Newell added: "Knowing he had stabbed her, his behaviour is of someone who is, at best, utterly unconcerned, at worst, rather pleased with himself, as if he feels big."

She told jurors they would have to consider whether the defendant stabbed Ava deliberately or accidentally and whether it was in reasonable self-defence.

Ms Newell said: "His age is not a defence, he is not a babe in arms, he knows right from wrong.

"He was capable of making the decision to carry a knife. He was capable of deciding to use it and he was capable of lying about it over and over and over again."

She said that in the hour before her death Ava had been "having the time of her life with her friends".

In his closing speech, Nick Johnson QC, defending, said Ava was part of a group of about 12 children who shared 1.4 litres of vodka on the evening of her death.

He showed CCTV of two of her friends appearing to take chairs from a local business and one girl "mouthing off" at an adult who went to retrieve them.

Mr Johnson said: "We have to look at the behaviour of the group, who they are prepared to confront and in what circumstances they are prepared to confront them."

He said there was an "aggressive reaction" when Ava realised the defendant and his friends had filmed her and Ava's friends "couldn't control her".

Mr Johnson told the jury: "The evidence can be uncomfortable."

He said friends of Ava who gave evidence about the moment she was stabbed were "simply not telling the truth about what was going on".

And he said Ava, who was five centimetres taller than the defendant, was the "aggressor" and "wanted to batter" the boy.

Mr Johnson said: "It is a horrendous case isn't it? It's absolutely awful, so many lives ruined, but it is not the case you have been sold, ladies and gentlemen, by the prosecution."

He described the defendant as a "scared kid" who was in "an awful lot of trouble" when he lied to police.

The boy, who appears in court via video link, denies murder and manslaughter.