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00:04Ambulance services the patient breathing.
00:09Can you breathe?
00:13Okay, listen, you take a deep breath so we can help him.
00:17Okay.
00:18How old is he?
00:20His eyes are shut in.
00:22It's okay, he's like this, he's breathing.
00:24Right, someone needs to come back to the phone.
00:26Hello, where are the attackers?
00:27Please hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, hurry up!
00:31Hurry up now!
00:32No, no, no, no, no!
00:36Hello?
01:17What's that going for once, control?
01:19Response officers from West Midlands Police are on their way to a serious stabbing in South Birmingham.
01:26Down.
01:28Down.
01:30Down.
01:33Down.
01:33Just relax, just relax.
01:36Single male, massive trauma to his chest and his belly.
01:41Stop moving, little man.
01:42Stay nice and stay.
01:43All right, we're here to help get.
01:44Hello, are you back?
01:45Good.
01:46The badly injured teen is taken to hospital.
01:49Did you see anything mate?
01:53Whilst officers try to find out what's happened.
01:56I know, we just want to try to get you a few cows, that's all.
01:58Don't touch nobody.
02:00Leave me alone.
02:01Leave me alone.
02:02Leave me alone.
02:03What have you said?
02:04She said they've run out the back of this car park and that's all we've got after it.
02:09They don't want to talk to us at all, really, so it's a bit difficult.
02:14The lads have found a knife.
02:16We're extending the scene further up.
02:18Just hold.
02:20I don't, because you're kind of disturbing any evidence.
02:38The next morning, forensic investigator Andy Biggin joined search officers to examine the crime scene.
02:49I've done the big open area bits this far and the drains we can see all of them actually with
02:54a torch.
02:58You can obviously see the silver kitchen knife amongst what looks like duck down feathers,
03:03which may have been from a jacket of whoever's been involved in the altercation.
03:10The other side's quite heavily kind of sold with moisture, having been on a wet ground.
03:17There is a teenage child fighting for his life.
03:24The biggest challenge of the scene is the sheer size to make sure nothing's missed.
03:32Because at this point I'm unaware exactly what's happened, where it's happened and how it's happened.
03:38It's a large, large zombie knife.
03:4225 metres away from the kitchen knife, Andy recovers a second deadly weapon.
03:53Any utility of that's going to cause a significant amount of injury.
03:58I'll photograph it with scale.
04:04I'll make notes of what I've identified and we'll send it off to the major crime lab to have that
04:11examined.
04:14The knives were spread quite far away from each other, which would suggest that the incident started in one location
04:22and perhaps finished in another location.
04:25The offenders could have fled in any direction.
04:37With the victim fighting for his life in hospital, the cases escalated to the homicide team, led by Detective Inspector
04:45Abe George.
04:46Morning all then.
04:48So, briefing for Operation Tiffin.
04:52We were called by members of the public and also ambulance saying that they were tracing a male who'd been
04:56stabbed to the chest.
04:57An arrival at the QE described as actively dying due to his injuries.
05:02He's got stab wounds to his bowel and his chest, it's pierced his pancreas, his liver and his kidney and
05:09he's lost one kidney.
05:10This has a potential to become a murder investigation.
05:14The victim can't be spoken to because he's in intensive care.
05:18He can't tell us what's happened.
05:20Overnight, there's already been a major development in the case.
05:24I have two teenagers in custody who are brothers, both arrested from the same address.
05:31A 15-year-old suspect with minor injuries and his brother have been arrested at a house near the crime
05:37scene after police were alerted by the ambulance service.
05:41So, first suspect is currently in hospital with cuts to his hand and his head.
05:46He can't account for his injuries because he can't remember how it happened, etc.
05:50They come across his brother wearing a jacket that's got, like, kind of slash marks on it.
05:56They've made, obviously, the assumption that he could be involved and that he's also been locked up for attempt murder.
06:02Both brothers have been evasive with police and will be interviewed in connection with the stabbing.
06:08I'm presented with two people that are injured.
06:11One victim who's in hospital with serious life-threatening injuries.
06:15But I also have the suspect who's also got injuries.
06:18So, it makes it quite complex in terms of what might have actually happened at the scene.
06:23It could be that this was a chance meeting between the two.
06:27They've got involved in a fight and it just so happens that the victim has come off worse.
06:31It could be that the victim has been attacked by multiple people.
06:35There's a whole host of options that it could be.
06:37And there are two witnesses that we're aware of at this moment in time.
06:41Unfortunately, they wouldn't give statements yesterday.
06:43They've told us categorically, go away, don't darken our doorstep again.
06:46We don't want to give you any statements.
06:49CCTV-wise, we've got the CCTV team who are going out and doing recovery for us at the moment.
06:55OK. Thank you.
07:05Without any witnesses willing to talk to them,
07:08Aide and DC Denise Abriscoe need to gather more information from the scene of the brothers' arrest.
07:19Hi, so we've had quite some of a head injury.
07:22Yeah.
07:22Yeah.
07:23OK, so come and take a look.
07:24This is the body wall footage from the arrest of the first suspect.
07:28Officers were called to the brothers' house an hour after the stabbing,
07:32when paramedics noticed signs of a knife fight.
07:36What's that for, mate?
07:37Where's his second place?
07:39I don't remember.
07:40Sorry?
07:41I don't remember.
07:42I don't remember.
07:43Do you know who else was involved at all?
07:45I don't remember.
07:47Do you know what you were hit with at all?
07:48Did you see what hit you?
07:49No.
07:50I mean, he's obviously told the officers that he's been hit.
07:55But he's not really, like, kind of disclosing how he's been hit.
08:00I know.
08:01He seems to be quite vague about what happened.
08:03If you're truly innocent, why not give us a full account?
08:06Why not tell us now exactly what happened?
08:09I already told you I went outside.
08:11I got hit with something.
08:12I don't remember what it was.
08:14What else do you want me to see?
08:18I think you can probably see from that injury to his hand
08:21and the injury to his other finger,
08:22it looks like a slash mark of some kind.
08:25It feels to me at this moment in time
08:27that he's not particularly forthcoming with information
08:30because perhaps he knows that he's been involved
08:32in some form of criminality.
08:36This is the second suspect, his older brother,
08:39returning to the address.
08:40Hello. What's your name, fella?
08:42Listen, keep your hands wide.
08:44I don't know, mate.
08:44It's been an incident, mate.
08:45It's almost been an incident.
08:46What?
08:47You are.
08:48You're looking like you've been in a fight.
08:49I haven't.
08:51It looks like he's got bits of fluff in his hair.
08:53Yeah.
08:54Which could be from an item of clothing that's been slashed, you know.
08:58Yeah.
08:58There's bits of this kind of stuff
09:00near to where the victim was stabbed.
09:04The issue that we've got is all circumstantial,
09:07so it doesn't actually prove that they were part of that offence.
09:10Where we don't have any sort of direct evidence,
09:13it does make things more difficult.
09:15I'm hoping that forensics are going to be able to tell me
09:18exactly what happened.
09:21The victim received a single stab wound to his stomach,
09:25but I have two suspects.
09:27So the question is, who's stabbed him?
09:39Lead forensic investigator, Joe Ward, assesses evidence gathered
09:44from the crime scene to be sent for urgent testing.
09:50You can see quite a large kitchen knife.
09:54The concern is straight away for me is that it appears wet.
09:58I think it's been raining, which may destroy any DNA that's on there.
10:04It's really unusual to find weapons at a scene.
10:08Normally, when we've got a scene where someone's been stabbed or injured,
10:12the weapons are nowhere to be seen.
10:14So this is a real golden nugget for us.
10:16And then there's another knife.
10:19In fact, it's a very large machete.
10:21I'm quite shocked.
10:22That could do some serious damage.
10:24You know, young people are walking around carrying these large weapons.
10:28It's just quite scary.
10:31I've certainly seen over the years the weapons getting bigger.
10:34The zombie knives, the machetes,
10:36the way it's designed is meant to kill.
10:39When I was younger, if there was a fight, it involved fists.
10:43But now, unfortunately, if you're carrying something,
10:46you'll reach for that weapon.
10:48For us, it gives us forensic opportunities to, you know,
10:51certainly identify if there's any blood on those weapons,
10:53but also who's handled those weapons as well.
11:07First, technician Holly Ruscola examines the kitchen knife
11:11for fingerprint ridge marks that may help police identify the attacker.
11:18I'm using a range of light sources to see if I can find any visible marks.
11:29So, I'm just going to look at the blade of the knife.
11:34I'm currently using UV.
11:40And I'm just trying to see if there's any ridge detail
11:43that may be exposed from the light sources.
11:49The blade is negative for any marks.
11:53I'm going to look at the handle now.
11:58And I can see some ridge detail on the handle of the knife.
12:07It's just there.
12:12But there's not enough to be able to send up to the fingerprint bureau,
12:16so I'm going to class this as being no value.
12:20As you can imagine, a kitchen knife you use regularly,
12:23so what tends to happen is you get an overlay of an overlay of fingerprints,
12:27so it's quite hard sometimes to actually be able
12:31to get a decent identifiable fingerprint from it.
12:38The focus turns to the 16-inch machete, which is taken to be swabbed for DNA.
12:44So, I'll go ahead and I will take the handler sample.
12:49This is to recover any possible cellular material of anyone who has handled the knife.
13:00So, I've spotted some red brown staining visible here on the cutting edge of the blade.
13:09And then you put a dot of KM on, a drop of H2O2.
13:17And there we have a nice pink reaction, which is an indication that there is blood present.
13:23So, there you get cut off, and then put in an automized tube,
13:29which will then get sent to DNA.
13:33We don't need an awful lot of blood nowadays to obtain a DNA profile from it.
13:39No, we only need a pinprick size sample.
13:42If this comes back to the victim, we can say that this knife has been used
13:47to cause these injuries to the victim.
13:49And then it's about trying to identify if one of the brothers actually handled that knife.
13:56While the victim remains critically ill in hospital,
14:00Suspect 1, the 15-year-old who was also injured, is now fit to be questioned.
14:10So, everything that we see now is being audio and video recorded.
14:15When I interview juveniles, I always try to bear in mind the fact that
14:18they are children at the end of the day, and they might be scared,
14:22they might have never been in police custody before.
14:24So, it can be quite challenging to get them to open up.
14:30So, tell us about your involvement in this incident, if any at all.
14:35And they've got a prepared statement to be done.
14:40I deny the allegation of attempt murder.
14:42I will maintain that I am the victim of a crime.
14:44I sustained injuries of a very serious nature.
14:47All these injuries were sustained by a knife attack that I was subjected to.
14:51I will maintain that I acted in self-defense.
14:53I felt my own life was in danger. I responded reasonably.
14:59I see your right hand in a calf.
15:03Talk to you about how that knife caused that injury.
15:09I remember I was hit first with the knife.
15:14Chopped.
15:15Yes.
15:16I put my hand up like this, the camera can see it now.
15:20To block it.
15:21Yeah.
15:22And then, yeah, it's chopped my hand.
15:25And then what happened after that?
15:27After that, I can't really remember.
15:28I think I fell on the ground or something.
15:31I think, yeah, I think I fell on the ground and then something hit me on the back of my
15:36head.
15:36After that, I think I was knocked out.
15:39He accepts his presence at the scene, but states that he was the one that was attacked and he was
15:45just defending himself.
15:45So it makes it difficult to establish who is, you know, a suspect and who is a victim.
15:52You say, I'll maintain that I acted in self-defense.
15:55And then you say, I responded reasonably.
15:59Tell me about how you responded.
16:02No comment.
16:04Did you stab him?
16:05No comment.
16:07Is that what you mean when you're saying that you were acting in self-defense?
16:11No comment.
16:12Did you stab him in response to him slashing him?
16:15No comment.
16:15No comment.
16:17No comment.
16:19Self-defense is a really tricky one for us to prove, but also for us to disprove.
16:25It's not clear cut.
16:26We are going to have to look at, was he acting reasonably and proportionately?
16:31Did he feel that his own life was, you know, in danger, that he needed to, like, kind of lash
16:35out?
16:36And so, therefore, forensics are going to be really key in helping us build up a picture about what happened
16:40and how he came by those injuries.
16:54To help investigate suspect one's claim of self-defense, Joe assesses the victim's clothing for signs of how the attack
17:02unfolded.
17:06As you can see, it's been cut down the middle, which has been caused by the ambulance at the scene,
17:13and they put it back together.
17:16Fucking jigsaw puzzle, this is.
17:19Was it a prolonged attack?
17:20They just attempted to stab him once to then prove whether it was self-defense is quite difficult.
17:28We know a victim suffered one stab wound to the chest, but a victim's clothing can tell you a completely
17:34different story to what you actually see on the body.
17:37Sometimes, on clothing, we see more attempted kind of stab wounds, and that may be because, you know, the victim's
17:43running away or he's moving, and the weapon's only just managed to actually cause the damage but not actually penetrated
17:48through to the skin.
17:50Straight away, I can kind of see a damage mark here, and then a bit lower down, kind of to
17:56the waist area.
17:57Again, it appears to have been caused by a sharp instrument.
18:00And that's gone all the way through, but there's no corresponding marks in the T-shirt.
18:04And the question is, has the weapon made contact with the actual coat itself?
18:08It's gone through, but then not penetrated the actual T-shirt.
18:12His clothing tells us that the attempt on the actual victim itself was more than just that one stab wound.
18:18It really highlights the level of force that was used, how frenzied the attack has been.
18:24It's likely that his thick coat saved his life. He's lucky to be alive.
18:34Police now want to interview the older brother, Suspect Two, whose own coat had apparent slash marks when he was
18:41arrested.
18:43Did you have any involvement in this incident?
18:46I got a prepared statement to read on behalf of my client.
18:52I denied the allegation of attempted murder. I'm not responsible for this offence.
18:57I have not injured or stabbed anyone at all.
19:00On the night in question, I was at home.
19:02It was only after my brother went to hospital that I threw on the coat that he was wearing that
19:07evening.
19:08That is my brother's coat.
19:09This is because once the police and ambulance left, I was not thinking straight and I went outside to go
19:14and see what happened.
19:16I will not be on CCTV at the time of the incident.
19:19I deny the allegation entirely.
19:25OK, so you threw on the coat he was wearing that evening.
19:32What exactly made you put his coat on as opposed to your own coat?
19:38I'm trying to keep an open mind as to what might have happened.
19:41And there is a possibility that he's telling the truth that he was not involved.
19:46But then equally, there is also a possibility that he's either covering for his brother or he's also an offender.
19:54OK, I haven't got any further questions into me concluding.
20:03At this moment in time, I can't categorically say that he's involved with this incident.
20:07You know, this is a juvenile, so I have a limited amount of time I can keep him in custody.
20:12Is the forensic evidence going to actually tie him to the scene?
20:25With suspect two claiming the ripped jacket belongs to his younger brother,
20:30it's sent for urgent DNA testing to see if they can confirm who was wearing it during the attack.
20:37The first thing I'm going to do is take a wearer sample.
20:42So I'm going to start by mini-taping the inside colour.
20:51When the surface comes in contact with the skin, it can leave behind little skin flakes and oils and stuff,
20:56and that's just what we're picking up on the tape.
20:59And it should pick up any cellular DNA that's in that area.
21:04What we need to do is establish, you know, whose jacket that is.
21:09However, although they don't share the same DNA, because everyone's got their own unique DNA,
21:15because they live together and they may share that jacket,
21:18it may prove difficult to actually say who's the wearer of that jacket at the time of the attack.
21:26I'm just looking at this area of damage to the hood.
21:32So the cuts have quite a straight edge to them.
21:35So it does look like the hood has been cut by a sharp object such as a knife,
21:42rather than if it is torn.
21:45The edges would look quite frayed and different.
21:48And there's quite a bit of red-brown staining here that looks like it could be blood.
21:54So I'm just going to use my scalpel to cut out a small area of this stain.
22:01I can get those samples sent off to DNA now and we'll see if we can get a profile.
22:13This jacket is really crucial to this investigation.
22:16If that blood comes back to victim, then, you know, that would suggest that the person wearing that jacket
22:23was certainly at that scene and in close proximity to the actual victim and involved in this incident.
22:32Right, okay. So that's a Sainsbury's camera. That camera is looking along that frontage, so it's pointing in that direction.
22:44I've been able to get various items of footage.
22:48CCTV specialist Zed Ahmed is piecing together footage from numerous cameras
22:55in an attempt to track the movements of the brothers and victim on the night of the attack.
23:02CCTV work, it's quite niche and I think one needs a lot of patience.
23:08It's really important that you don't miss any detail.
23:12Because CCTV footage doesn't lie, it acts as a kind of reconstruction tool.
23:19This is a short walk away from where the stabbing took place.
23:25I can see the victim goes to McDonald's with two other females.
23:38You need to be cautious when watching nighttime footage.
23:42It's grainy, it can be quite misleading sometimes.
23:46You can get the wrong impression, so that's really important to keep an open mind.
23:57He's in McDonald's for quite some time.
24:00If I just run it forward.
24:05Two minutes past midnight, he leaves by himself.
24:09Unfortunately for us, that part of the main road is not covered by CCTV cameras
24:15and I can't track him any further.
24:18It's chilling to think that he will be stabbed soon after this.
24:35So I just thought I'd update you because I've just had the results back.
24:39Both knives found at the scene and the ripped jacket have been tested for DNA.
24:44So if I start off with the silver kitchen knife.
24:48Yep.
24:48No blood was found on that and there's no fingerprints that were found.
24:53Then we go on to the machete.
24:56So there was blood that was found on the actual blade,
25:00but that's come back to suspect one.
25:04And there was DNA that was taken from the handle.
25:10And that has actually come back to the victim.
25:13OK.
25:14So suggesting that that was the victim's knife.
25:18OK, that's interesting.
25:20Why was the victim carrying a knife?
25:22If he's had to go somewhere to meet somebody with a knife,
25:25he's potentially expecting some trouble.
25:28They've both stabbed each other.
25:29But who struck who first?
25:34The blood on the outside of the jacket has been profiled to suspect one,
25:41but no victim's blood.
25:42So that fits in with the account of suspect two,
25:45that he's actually borrowed his brother's jacket after the event.
25:51I'm not sure if you've been given an update from the prepared statement
25:54that suspect one gave in the interview,
25:56which was that effectively he was acting in self-defence.
25:59He was attacked and that's obviously why he's lashed out.
26:03So obviously some of those results does go some way
26:06to kind of supporting his...
26:08Support that, yeah.
26:08..his account.
26:13I'll be sorting out your bail.
26:15So you are going to be released from custody today,
26:17but there are actually certain bail conditions
26:19that are going to be attached to you on the right.
26:23So far, none of the forensic evidence links suspect two,
26:27the older brother, to the stabbing.
26:31I don't feel that we've gathered enough evidence
26:33that we can go and approach the Crown Prosecution Service
26:36in order to authorise charges.
26:38It may actually be the evidence doesn't exist because he's not involved,
26:41but equally the investigation will continue, it doesn't stop,
26:44just because someone's been bailed.
26:46Thank you, Sergeant.
26:48While suspect two is released on bail,
26:51his younger brother remains in custody.
27:06So we've received in both suspect one and suspect two's devices.
27:10I'm just going to take initial photographs of both of these.
27:14In a bid to find a motive for the attack
27:17that connects the brothers to the victim,
27:19all three teenagers' phones are sent for data to be downloaded.
27:25Suspect one's device, it's very damaged.
27:29The camera's smashed, the back's smashed,
27:31there's a slight cracking to the front of the device.
27:33We just have to be very careful when we're extracting the data from this.
27:49Just showing that the device is encrypted.
27:52Apple devices are notoriously difficult to get into.
27:57It doesn't look like we've picked up a lot from images, videos or chats.
28:04There's literally next to nothing.
28:07Now, starting on suspect two's device.
28:15I'm not actually seeing a lot of images, videos or any kind of media whatsoever.
28:21It doesn't appear like there's much data from the extraction at all,
28:25because it's probably a newer phone, that's why.
28:27Although the suspect's devices are encrypted,
28:30the victim's phone is unlocked,
28:32and the data downloaded for digital media investigator
28:36Sherry Watkins to analyse.
28:39I think when it comes to digital evidence these days,
28:43it's one of the most crucial elements of an investigation,
28:47especially when you're dealing with teenagers.
28:49They are addicted to their phones.
28:51The phones are the world, they're everything.
28:54So I know that the victim's phone was used to phone 999,
28:58so that call, I've got that on here.
29:00So that was at 0049 hours.
29:06I'm going to go back a couple of hours
29:07and see if there's any content of note there.
29:10The first thing I want to do is look to see if there's any contact
29:12between the victim and one of the suspects.
29:16Chances are, with the age, it's going to be Snapchat, TikTok,
29:19because kids rarely use network calls, network text messages,
29:23these days, it's usually all apps.
29:25He's got some stuff on here that I usually find on teenagers' phones.
29:29There's a chat here where he's swapping rap songs with somebody.
29:35A lot of it's just chats with friends by the look of it,
29:39and maybe a girlfriend.
29:40What else have we got?
29:42He is using Snapchat quite a lot.
29:45You can do direct messaging, but the thing with Snapchat
29:48that attracts a lot of them too is the fact that it disappears quickly afterwards.
29:52So the content's gone, it can't be retrieved.
29:55But we have got some data that comes back on the phones.
30:00From the data, Sherry is able to pinpoint communications
30:03between the victim and suspect one.
30:07It looks like there's a large volume of messages between, like, 9 o'clock at night
30:12and quarter to one, which is pretty much, like, a couple of minutes
30:16before this all kicked off.
30:18And there are 242 messages.
30:20And they're literally, like, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.
30:23And there's a couple of phone calls, there's some, like, video calls on there.
30:27But annoyingly, I can't see any of the content.
30:29It does make me wonder what was being said.
30:34As much as it's frustrating because I don't have the content,
30:37those messages were being bandied back and forth,
30:39and they literally finished seconds before the attack has taken place,
30:44which would suggest that there was potentially a pre-arranged meet
30:47between the victim and suspect one.
31:02I've got some further footage here from the Sainsbury's car park.
31:08With the phone data suggesting a planned meeting,
31:11Zed has tracked the victim to the car park close to where he was found stabbed
31:15and discovered a major lead.
31:19I can see he's on his mobile phone.
31:23He's now walking backwards and forwards.
31:27I wonder whether he's waiting there for somebody.
31:36To the left of the frame, I can see three individuals
31:40running in the direction of the victim.
31:43The victim is walking off to the right of the screen
31:47and these three individuals are chasing him.
31:52It's three individuals that are involved in this incident.
31:55That's significant, that is.
31:57Who is this third suspect?
32:00Who is doing what?
32:02The footage is not the clearest.
32:05It's dark at the time.
32:06Their faces are covered.
32:07They're wearing dark clothing.
32:09At this moment, I'm unable to identify who the actual suspects are.
32:16If I just pause it there and take it back slightly, I've just noticed something.
32:22I've zoomed in here onto the CCTV footage.
32:26And just there, something that caught my eye.
32:31He's clearly holding an item that's shiny.
32:34It's got a reflective quality.
32:36It's certainly consistent with a knife.
32:38And he's holding that in his right hand as he's running in the direction of the victim.
32:42I imagine to attack him.
32:49The victim and the individuals have gone off the screen.
32:52And I don't think I've got footage from that particular location.
32:58Is it a set up?
33:01It's very difficult then for a suspect to argue that they acted in self-defence and therefore used reasonable force.
33:06If actually what they've done is arranged to meet somebody with a view to having some disorder with them.
33:15There's obviously still some outstanding offenders.
33:18There is either one or possibly two outstanding offenders.
33:22It's really important that we get this third person into custody.
33:25The longer that that takes, the more opportunity they have to dispose of any weapons, any clothing, dispose of any
33:33mobile phone.
33:34All things that may link them to the other suspects and the scene.
33:39I mean, with regards to the victim actually, what's his current state at the minute? Is he still stable?
33:45So he's critical but stable.
33:47They're still monitoring him.
33:48He's having regular scans.
33:50We'll see what happens with him over the next couple of days and I'll let you know.
33:53Yeah. All right, lovely.
33:54OK. Okie doke.
33:57Zed has widened his search for the three attackers on CCTV
34:01and alerts aid to new footage he's found from the brothers' local area.
34:06How are you getting on, Zed?
34:08If you sit down, I'll just lead you through it.
34:13Footage here shows suspect number two leaving his address.
34:18Yep.
34:19Climbing out of the house through the downstairs window.
34:23He then makes his way over the road to the other suspects' address.
34:29Followed by suspect number one.
34:31OK.
34:32He takes the same route.
34:34Zed is able to track both brothers as they're joined by the third suspect minutes before the stabbing.
34:42Both suspects follow suspect number three and you see all three suspects as they walk onto the road and in
34:50the direction of the car park.
34:52That's a good clear image of this, isn't it?
34:57All three suspects chase the victim.
35:00We believe these three individuals have attacked the victim.
35:05This changes everything.
35:07We have a third suspect and we now know that that person lives in the same street as our two
35:14suspects.
35:18An arrest team heads to the new suspects' address.
35:27This is Westminster Police.
35:29Where they find a 15-year-old who resembles the figure seen on CCTV.
35:34You are under arrest and suspicion of attempted murder and possession of an offensive weapon.
35:40Do you want to put some clothes on or I'm going to have to put some handcuffs on you, OK?
35:49Suspect two, the older brother who was released on bail, is also rearrested.
35:55We're here in relation to the incident that you were previously arrested for.
36:00Basically we've had further evidence that we need to question you about.
36:04Where's your phone?
36:05We know you've got a phone here, mate.
36:07We can turn the place upside down or you can give us the phone.
36:10Give me the phone, otherwise...
36:13Stop being silly.
36:20Stop being silly.
36:21Stop being silly.
36:32Did you hear what the allegation is regarding the attempted murder?
36:36Vulnerable IP due to age?
36:37Yes.
36:40And what's he been arrested for?
36:41Attempted murder.
36:43You've heard what the officers have said, so just pop your hands out of there for me, please, mate.
36:46I am authorising your detention here.
36:48That means you're going to remain here with us for a time so that we can secure and preserve evidence
36:52and you can be interviewed.
36:53Alright.
37:01Police now have three teenagers in custody, who are their prime suspects.
37:22So, I've got the phone download for suspect three's phone now.
37:26I mean, there's loads of stuff on here with his mum.
37:29I know I do that to the kids, like...
37:31I can't be arsed to shout up the stairs to them.
37:34Sorry for this morning, when you wake me up angry, I'll get in a bad mood, but I'll clean the
37:37kitchen and the living room for you.
37:39It's like, aww, when you read stuff like this, you realise that they are only kids, aren't they?
37:44I'm going to click on to the notes section.
37:47So, I've got 207 notes and I can see already that there are some, what looks like, rap lyrics.
37:55And it might be a case of, if I go through all these lyrics, there might be something mentioned in
38:00the incident.
38:02Teenagers will talk quite freely amongst each other when it comes to their phones.
38:05They think it's a safe environment.
38:07They'll have, like, a false sense of security that what they're discussing will never be read by anybody.
38:13And I'm often surprised when they are.
38:16So, if we have a little listen.
38:24He's all about sitting in the trap.
38:27Probably a car.
38:34I chop it down to stones, which is going to be potentially a reference to a drug line.
38:41Looks like there's some stuff around drug dealing.
38:44Some lists and some amounts.
38:47There's references about chinging people, splashing people, wetting people,
38:54which all of them are in reference to stabbings.
38:58Wearing ballys, balaclavas, shanks, ginger knives.
39:03It certainly doesn't really paint a pretty picture, does it?
39:07Teenage slang.
39:08It's really hard to decipher sometimes.
39:11You have to decode them.
39:13Latest one I've got was flizz.
39:15That was a new one on me.
39:17I thought that was a person for a while because people have some crazy street names.
39:21And then it turned out that flizz was bad.
39:25The difficulty is they share lyrics and they share songs with each other,
39:30but it's hard to work out whether they're talking about something that has actually happened,
39:33whether it's something they want to get involved in, or whether it is just pure fantasy.
39:36Trying to work out what's facts and what's fiction, really.
39:41Sherry also examines a new, unencrypted phone from Suspect 2,
39:45which police found on him when he was rearrested.
39:49He's got nearly 45,000 images on this phone, but I can filter them down.
39:56This one here tagged tonight's vibe of a male posing with what looks like a very large hunting knife.
40:07Now, his face is blurred out, but there's a second video like literally six minutes after this of Suspect 2
40:13and I can see it's him.
40:14His face isn't blurred and he's wearing exactly the same clothing.
40:19So, it looks like he has had, or has in his possession, a rather large hunting knife at some point.
40:25I mean, this kid here's got a Rambo knife, and these are all different kids.
40:30I don't know who they are, but they all look about the same age, like mid to late teens.
40:36You're talking Rambo knives and zombie knives, they're that big, and they're deadly weapons.
40:41They're really blasé about it. They don't seem to care.
40:44That shouldn't just be a normal thing for, you know, 15, 16-year-olds to do, but it seems like
40:50it is these days.
40:57Sherry updates AIDS team to see whether any of these discoveries can be used as evidence.
41:03Profile 2's phone that we've had off him.
41:06There's a lot of pictures of knives, isn't there?
41:08They're horrific looking, aren't they?
41:09Aren't they vile? They're like giant, like, hunting knives.
41:13I can't see anything that specifically mentions the incident itself that I can see.
41:19OK.
41:20Attempting murder is a very difficult crime to prove.
41:23We have to demonstrate to the court that those individuals had the intention to kill the victim.
41:30So that they had jointly acted together in order to inflict that injury.
41:35Can we actually prove that?
41:40The knife used to attack the victim has not been found.
41:44So Joe meets with digital imaging specialist Lucy McGregor to analyse a 3D scan of his injuries.
41:52The stab wound would have been along this line somewhere.
41:55This is just a scar from where they've opened him up for surgery to assess the damage within his stomach
42:00area.
42:01The process, known as body mapping, may reveal clues to what kind of knife was used.
42:08It did a lot of damage on the inside, so there was wounds to the front and back walls of
42:12the stomach,
42:13and also the left lobe of the liver was damaged as well, as well as a laceration to the pancreas.
42:19The left kidney was also damaged and had to be removed.
42:22So it must have gone in quite deep then, hadn't it?
42:24Yeah, very deep, yeah.
42:26Body mapping's really useful because you can see the angle that the knife's gone in.
42:32There could be a whole range of scenarios of like what position he was in, if he was moving at
42:36the time,
42:36or was he crouched down when the knife came towards him.
42:39You know, it's obviously quite a significant weapon to have caused, you know, those injuries.
42:44Whether it's perhaps gone in at an angle as well, or kind of repeatedly gone in.
42:49Possibly an angle to then hit his kidney up here.
42:53There's a lot of questions and a lot of unknowns, really, of the kind of sequence of events.
42:58I think the impact is when you actually see, oh my God, it's gone right through and it's nicked his
43:02kidney.
43:03But the frustrating part is the fact that we can't identify which weapon was used
43:07and who actually used that weapon to cause injuries to the victim.
43:11This could kind of jeopardise the case, really.
43:20On this particular CCTV footage, we've got all three suspects as they make their way away from the crime scene
43:27post-evence.
43:29After searching dozens more cameras, Zed has located the suspects fleeing down a side street
43:35and found more than just images.
43:39It appears as if they are avoiding the main roads.
43:43And this particular footage has audio recording.
43:47Brilliant.
43:51You can hear there, they're having a conversation amongst each other.
43:55I'll just adjust the settings here.
44:04So the one suspect says to the other, is that your blood? And he replies, no.
44:12Takes his jacket off and hands it to the other suspect.
44:16They then go off onto a side road.
44:19This particular footage here, that we've obtained, also has audio.
44:26He's quite far ahead of you, isn't he? Look, he's powering ahead.
44:33Saying that he's dropped his shanks.
44:35OK.
44:36So that he's dropped his weapons.
44:39One of the other suspects then says he's done the same.
44:42The third suspect says that he's in possession of his weapon.
44:44There.
44:46That CCTV with the audio is really a key find.
44:51All three suspects make reference to either being in possession of a knife
44:56or having been in possession of a knife.
44:58And clearly this is incriminating evidence.
45:06And all three then run off, off camera.
45:10You can hear the tyrants in the background, can't you?
45:13I wonder if that's what a lot makes them start to run.
45:16The audio footage from the CCTV demonstrates that they were all armed with weapons.
45:23It suggests to me really that all three people jointly acted together
45:28in order to inflict that injury.
45:32One of them, it looks like he's holding his head.
45:36Right.
45:37You see here that right hand is touching the back of his head.
45:41I imagine he may have sustained an injury during this altercation.
45:45And I'm aware that suspect number one did sustain a head injury
45:49as well as an injury to his hand.
45:58All three suspects now face questioning about the new footage.
46:03Starting with 15-year-old suspect three.
46:07I want to show you some footage.
46:09And this has got sound, so I want you to pay attention to what you can hear as well.
46:15Come, I dropped my shanks.
46:17Come, I dropped my shanks.
46:19What does that mean?
46:21No comment.
46:22Because shanks means knives, doesn't it?
46:24No comment.
46:25So you're shouting back at them that you dropped your knives.
46:28No comment.
46:29Do you agree that that's you that said that?
46:32No comment.
46:33I can't run, sir.
46:35Which one of the brothers said that?
46:37No comment.
46:40Suspect two, the older brother, who previously denied being at the scene, is next to be re-interviewed.
46:47I'm going to show you now some images of these three males entering the rear of Sainsbury's.
46:57I believe that person there is yourself. Can you tell me any different?
47:02No comment.
47:03What was your purpose of going on to Sainsbury's car park?
47:07No comment.
47:09Did you have a knife when you went to that car park?
47:11No comment.
47:12You see, that person there has got an object in his hand. Can you tell me what that is?
47:17No comment.
47:17Is it a knife?
47:19No comment.
47:23Suspect one is also questioned about the evidence, which challenges his claim of self-defence.
47:30This is my final offer to you. Would you tell me in detail everything that happened during that incident?
47:36I reiterate I am not guilty of attempt murder. I feel I am a victim in this case also.
47:42Had I not defended myself, I believe I would have been killed. I would be making no further comment.
47:48Right, 1742, and I'm switching the machine off, thank you.
48:01We have three suspects who have been present or have attacked our victim.
48:07For me, that diminishes the self-defence aspect that was put forward by suspect one and made it less believable.
48:20So I now really need the victim's account to help build that story that then gives the best understanding about
48:27what happened that evening.
48:35Right, so do you want to talk me through basically what happened to you?
48:42There's a breakthrough for the team. The victim is finally well enough to give a witness statement and reveal his
48:49version of events.
48:50We had agreed on meeting up, just me and him. We never agreed on no fighting, no violence, but we
48:59just agreed on meeting up.
49:01He confirms that suspect one arranged to meet him on the night of the stabbing.
49:06He had sent me a snap. He said, oh, I'm on my way.
49:09He was just saying he doesn't want problems. He was convincing me, making it seem like, oh, it was all
49:13going to be fine.
49:13And when did you fall out with him?
49:16We played for the same football team. He was my friend as well.
49:20It's just we fell out after I had a problem with one of his friends who used to also play
49:23for that team.
49:24So you had a problem with his mates over...?
49:28It was a play fight that went too seriously and he threatened to stab me.
49:33I look up and then I see three masked people running up at me.
49:42And then they pulled out their knives.
49:43OK.
49:45His older brother had a kitchen knife and his other accomplice had two knives.
49:49I don't know what type of knives though, but he took out two knives.
49:52So then I took out my knife and held it out towards them.
49:57OK, so tell me, what made you take your knife out at that point?
50:02Because I knew they were trying to kill me. That was their intention.
50:05What made you take that knife with you when you went to see him?
50:09I felt like the need to have something to protect myself just in case.
50:13Because I know the type of person he is.
50:15So what was your intention when you took that knife with you?
50:20For self defence. I just wanted to keep it to myself.
50:23They were all running up at me.
50:24They were all just trying to swing at me and I was just trying to swing to keep them away
50:27from me.
50:28OK, so hold it there for a second.
50:30And what was your intention when you were just swinging your knife?
50:32To get them back. To get them to run away.
50:35They would go back to pretend they were going to go away.
50:38Then they would come back again and try and attack me.
50:40They just wanted to kill me.
50:42Who's coming at you?
50:43They all took swings at me.
50:45It was like they were taking turns. They were playing with me.
50:48They knew they could kill me, but they were just playing with me.
50:53And that was when he just came and he stabbed me through.
50:57The victim named suspect one as the person who stabbed him in the chest.
51:04I didn't feel pain. I just felt like there was something inside me.
51:08And then when he was trying to take it out, it was just like it jammed in my kidney.
51:14And that was when I swung as well, because the adrenaline kicked in.
51:17I don't remember. I'm pretty sure I cut him somewhere here on his arm.
51:21When you struck him with your knife, how many times did you do it?
51:26I can't remember. Pretty sure it was once or twice.
51:30I just started running down the road. I was running for my life.
51:33Because adrenaline helped me. I was just running.
51:39It's really pleasing that the victim's given us an account.
51:42That he is willing to support our investigation.
51:45But it's really important that we don't just take it at face value.
51:49You know, we need to make sure that what we're being told is true.
52:01OK, that's interesting.
52:03And there are some lyrics on here.
52:07One of them has actually got the name, street name of our victim in it as well.
52:12Sherry has been digging deeper into Suspect 2's new phone,
52:16which he used after the offence.
52:18And hidden amongst the many notes, discovered a song lyric.
52:24Fucked at NHS.
52:25Are you taking the piss?
52:27And then there's the street name of our victim.
52:29Should have got packed that day.
52:30But he got revived.
52:32Three shanks up.
52:33When we booked that prick, we done it all flizz.
52:36But we don't give a shit.
52:3736 hours, banged up in sales.
52:39I ain't no rat.
52:40Don't talk to the pigs.
52:42Fucked.
52:43Street name of our victim.
52:44Should have been in my spliff.
52:47They're mentioning our victim.
52:49They're mentioning the fact that he should have got packed that day,
52:52which I'd suggest means body bagged, killed, but he got revived.
52:58Three shanks up.
52:59Three knives up.
53:01But I ain't no rat.
53:02Don't talk to the pigs.
53:04Great.
53:04That first verse definitely sounds like what happened on the night.
53:08It's mentioning our victim.
53:10And he's clearly very upset that the NHS managed to save his life.
53:16I find it mind boggling that you would brag about nearly killing somebody.
53:21I just, I can't wrap my brain around that.
53:25It's like writing a confession down in the form of rap.
53:27It's so incriminating.
53:36Aid meets with Joe to assess whether there's strong enough evidence to charge all three teenagers with attempted murder.
53:45Attempt murder is probably one of the hardest defences, because you've got to show that intent.
53:49We need to show that there was an intention to kill.
53:52The victim is saying that, you know, he was attacked by all three people.
53:57We know from phones that there was potentially a meetup arranged and therefore that they've gone there in order to
54:06sort out some issue between them.
54:10I think that shows actually that they were all aware of what was going on that night.
54:14I was going to say, you've got kind of three against one, haven't you?
54:17Yeah.
54:17Yeah.
54:18Which shows that they were the aggressors.
54:20Yes, we know that suspect one has got some injuries.
54:23But the severity of like kind of the victim's injuries, the fact that he was on his own and the
54:28fact that obviously he's seen like kind of people are running towards him.
54:32That evidence is an element of planning.
54:34I think diminishes self-defence given, you know, that knife crime is such an issue.
54:40I think it's only sensible really that we discuss that with CPS.
54:45Yeah.
54:45We've got mobile phone evidence.
54:47We've got CCTV evidence.
54:49You know, by putting it all together, that then helps us to show what has happened and able to demonstrate
54:57to the court these three individuals have attacked the victim and caused that very significant injury to him.
55:10Can you come and stand at the desk, please?
55:13We're going to be charged, OK, with some very serious offences.
55:18The Crown Prosecution Service decides that all three suspects should face the same charges.
55:25You're going to be charged with the following offences.
55:28First offence, attempted murder.
55:31Second charge, had with you in a public place, an article which had a blade or was sharply pointed, namely
55:36a kitchen knife.
55:37I do know that you're 15 years of age and they are very serious and grave offences for which you've
55:43been charged.
55:46It is hard sometimes to step back and think, wow, these are only like 15, 16, 17-year-old kids.
55:52When you really boil it down, we're not talking about grown adults here, we're talking about kids that have got
55:57their whole lives in front of them.
55:59What the hell are you doing?
56:00If you understand those charges, if you can sign right here, that's not to say you're admitting to anything, it's
56:04just to say that you've understood the charges.
56:06That's not to say anything.
56:30I'm sorry.
56:45We never take the pleas to lesser offences lightly, but it's incredibly difficult in
56:51order to prove an attempted murder, and actually I believe this was the right thing to do in
56:55these circumstances.
56:55We have achieved some justice for the victim and his family, and hopefully this will set
57:01a clear message to young people to the dangers of knife crime and the dangers of carrying
57:06knives.
57:31Unfortunately, a case like this, you know, it affects so many people.
57:36The victim has got now life-changing injuries for the rest of his life.
57:41I can only imagine what the victim's family, but also that the suspect's family are going
57:46through.
57:48It's so sad that they've got their whole life ahead of them.
57:51You know, I'm sure they all had aspirations of what they wanted to do in the future.
57:55You know, and that's been taken away from them really, from a moment of bad choices that they've
58:00all made.
58:04Every contact leaves a trace that forensic experts can follow.
58:09Explore it for yourself with the Open University's new interactive case simulator.
58:14Scan the QR code on screen or visit connect.open.ac.uk forward slash real CSI.
58:22freak.reak.
58:35Before we go, we'll see you next time.
58:36Bye.
58:36Bye.
58:38Bye.
58:43Bye.
58:43Bye.
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