Girl, 15, stabbed rival in brain with comb

Friday, 03 August 2012

A TEENAGE girl who murdered a rival by stabbing her in the brain with a comb for “invading her territory” is facing a life sentence.

The killer, who cannot be named because of her age, was 15 when she plunged the comb’s steel prong into the left temple of Julie Sheriff during a petty row in the street.

She confronted the victim outside the William Hill betting shop in Falcon Road, Clapham, demanding: “What do you think you are doing in Clapham?” the Old Bailey jury heard.

The girl, who had a history of violence, then asked her friends to hold her bag and mobile phone before stabbing Julie in the shoulder and the head.

Seconds later the victim, from Hackney, east London, collapsed and fell into a coma until her death four months later, on September 21 last year.

The killer, who is now 16, was convicted of murder by a jury at the Old Bailey on Friday last week.

Sentencing was adjourned until August 28 when Judge Nicholas Cooke will rule on whether the girl should lose her right to anonymity.

Jurors heard that the victim also had a history of violence.

She had received a reprimand for common assault after biting the neck of a security guard and had also threatened to stab a carer and kill her pregnant stepmother.

She also admitted hanging around with gang members and going to South London to have fights.

By the time of the attack she and her killer had become bitter enemies. Police arrested the 15-year-old as she walked to her home in Pimlico, south-west London, in the early hours of the morning following the attack.

The Old Bailey heard she initially gave officers a false name, before asking: “Is it about the fight yesterday? I don’t think I did anything wrong.

On September 9 last year, while Julie was still fighting for life in hospital, the girl gave a prepared statement saying she acted in self-defence.

The girl did not give evidence in her defence but denied murder.

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