Harrogate teenager sentenced to life for murdering his friend
Dylan Cranfield killed Seb Mitchell at a house party in February
Last updated 4th Dec 2023
A 17-year-old boy has been sentenced to life with a minimum of 11 years after being found guilty of murdering his friend at a house in Harrogate.
Seb Mitchell, 17, was stabbed during a gathering of five friends in February.
The defendant, Dylan Cranfield, had admitted manslaughter but denied murder.
A jury at Leeds Crown Court heard how Seb and the defendant had been friends for a few years and enjoyed each other’s company.
On the 19th February they were at a gathering with a third boy and two girls. One of the teenagers told the court they were ‘all drunk’ after drinking vodka during the evening.
The jury heard how tension broke out when Seb became ‘abusive’ to one of the girls, calling her names.
The defendant, who was 16 at the time, told Seb to ‘chill out’, with Seb then pushing the defendant in the kitchen.
The defendant fell backwards onto a glass frame which shattered. The court heard how the defendant became angry with Seb, shouting that he would have to pay for the damage.
The third boy who was at the house told the court how things ‘got out of hand’ very quickly.
He said the pair were shouting and pushing each other, and then the defendant took hold of a knife from the knife block in the kitchen. He said it all happened ‘in a matter of seconds’.
The pair were ‘grappling’ with each other and ended up in the living room and the boy told the court how Seb suddenly stopped and they realised he had been stabbed.
The court heard how the friends got Seb onto the sofa and the defendant shouted for a towel to help stop the blood.
Paramedics arrived just after midnight and Seb was taken to Harrogate District Hospital where he went into cardiac arrest. He had suffered a stab wound to the left side of his heart and died on 21st February from irreversible brain damage.
Forensic experts told the court the stab wound was a minimum of 2.5cm deep and would have required ‘some’ degree of force to inflict, though it was difficult to say how much.
Defence barrister Mohamed Nawaz KC said it was an incident that started from nothing and very quickly got out of hand.
Prosecuting, Peter Moulson KC alleged that there was an intention to cause really serious harm, and asked the jury: “How can there be any other intention when someone picks up a weapon like that?
“’I’m sorry I lost my temper’ is no defence to a charge of murder.”
Following his death, Seb's family paid tribute to him as a 'beautiful, funny, talented boy'.
They said: “There are no words to describe how we feel now that he has been so cruelly taken from us.
“We will carry him in our hearts forever.”