Possible failures in handling of schoolboy, 12, who went on to murder 19-year-old at park
A 12-year-old schoolboy convicted of the murder of a defenceless stranger had a fascination with knives and machetes, which had been reported by an adult.
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Visitor 19-year-old Shawn Seesahai was passing time in Stowlawn playing fields off Green Park Avenue in Bilston on November 13 last year when he was attacked by two schoolboys.
The youths, one of whom is now 13, are believed to be youngest defendants convicted of murder in Britain since Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, both aged 11, were found guilty in 1993 of killing two-year-old James Bulger.
A hearing to lift the ban on naming the defendants, who blamed each other for inflicting the fatal blow to his back, heard that an adult had repeatedly "intercepted" blades from one of the youths and had asked for intervention help.
Jude Bunting KC, representing ITN, News Corp and Associated Press, also told Nottingham Crown Court that there was a "possibility of institutional failures" relating to the youth in the months leading to Mr Seesahai's murder.
He further said despite an assessment being carried out by the vulnerable children's charity Barnado's in relation to the same child in July last year "care was not taken to protect him".
"You can see local authority involvement in his life from an early age", Mr Bunting said.
He said someone was asking for help "intercepting machetes and knives since 2021" and that despite that appeal for help the defendant "was able to go out and commit this horrific attack," he added.
