'We are getting better at solving child knife crime murders' West Midlands Police homicide team boss speaks out after another boy is convicted

A child murder suspect used to be a once-in-a-generation event for West Midlands Police but now there are several cases a year - just in the Black Country. 

On Friday (April 6) another boy was convicted of a knife murder. The teenager was found guilty of killing 13-year-old Jahziah Coke in Oldbury last August. We spoke with Detective Inspector Nick Barnes who says his officers are getting better prosecuting child killers. 

He told the Express & Star: "This was a big investigation. When we got to the scene we had no idea what happened. We then had to identify a suspect and try and locate that suspects. 

"We solved this case, there is a lot of knife crime out there but we have a good detection rate. Violent crime is down but in the West Midlands we still have an issue with children carrying and using knives." 

He added: "We are getting better at these cases. Though when the suspect is a child there needs to certain safeguarding processes which need to be kept to, like having an appropriate adult in the room when they are questioned.

"But at the end of the day, it is a murder investigation and we do everything the same when it comes to detecting the crime and finding evidence whether it is a child or adult suspect."

As the number of families grieving a murdered child through knife crime rises DI Barnes urged children to think twice before picking up a blade.

He said: This is the absolute worse consequences from a knife fight, to children they need to realise taking a knife to fight up could result in someone dying and them spending the rest of their life in jail or it could be turned on themselves.

"Zombie knives can cause horrific consequences but also a normal kitchen knife can have just as devastating consequences."

DI Barnes welcomed the introduction of Ronan's Law which curbs the purchase of killer knives on the internet saying "anything which can do anything to keep these weapons out of children's hands has to be be a good thing."  

The boy convicted of killing Jahziah told jurors during the murder trial the death happened during a knife fight between the two involving a sword and a smaller knife. 

The youth, sitting in the well of the court beside his mother, showed no emotion as he watched the verdict being returned by the foreman of the jury. 

Jurors were told the victim was found dead in the hallway of the house, close to the foot of a staircase, by paramedics responding to a 999 call made by the defendant. 

Jahziah suffered a six-inch deep chest wound inflicted with severe force which almost completely cut through one of his ribs.

Jahziah’s killer, who denied deliberately inflicting any injuries, fled over fences and then caught a bus to a friend’s house to play video games in the hours after the killing, the court heard. 

Forensic evidence, included diluted blood found on a kitchen chair, suggested an attempt had been made to “clean up” something or someone after the killing.

Sentence in the case and a ruling on a press application to lift reporting restrictions has been adjourned until June.

Judge Amanda Tipples told the court the boy would be sentenced after detailed reports. The boy will be finally given his sentence in June by Judge Tipples.

The judge thanked the jury for their public service by completing the long and complicated trial. She also excused them from future jury service for life. 

The judge told the jurors: “This, as you well know, has been a tragic case in which a 13-year-old child was killed."