Tom Thorpe is campaigning for a retrial or review after the teenager who stabbed his nine-year-old daughter, Aria, in the heart walked free from court.
Aria was killed in her own home in Weston-super-Mare in December. The 15-year-old admitted waving a knife “ninja-style” at her before plunging it about three inches into her chest and wounding her heart. He then fled the scene.
CCTV later showed the teenager recreating the stabbing to a group of teenagers at a train station. The family says those circumstances, together with what happened inside the house, should have resulted in a different verdict.
Family challenges Aria Thorpe case verdict
Mr Thorpe, an offshore wind turbine inspector, said the teenager entered the living room carrying the biggest knife in the house and moved it towards Aria, who was about four feet tall. He said the teenager then left her, locked the dogs away, put on his coat and walked out.
“How on earth, with all of that happening, do you get to walk out of court before we had even walked out of court?” Mr Thorpe said.
He described Aria as a “little firecracker”. The family had been told by prosecutors that the case would be a “slam dunk”, but said doubts emerged after the defence argued the stabbing had been an accident.
The family believes the verdict was a miscarriage of justice because of the judge’s directions to the jury. According to the family’s account, jurors were told they could convict the teenager of manslaughter only if they were sure he had deliberately stabbed Aria in a way that a reasonable person would believe was likely to cause harm.
That legal direction is now central to the family’s efforts to challenge the Aria Thorpe case. They are seeking a review by the Court of Appeal and have launched a campaign backed by former Attorney General Suella Braverman.
Campaign seeks Court of Appeal review
Ms Braverman has established a petition on her website supporting calls for a review. She said the case had undermined public confidence in the courts and argued that the teenager should not be walking free after admitting actions that led to Aria’s death.
She called on the Attorney General to intervene and said the Thorpe family and Aria deserved support for their campaign.
A retrial cannot normally take place because of double jeopardy laws, which prevent a person from being tried again for the same offence after a verdict. New evidence would be required for the case to be retried.
Mr Thorpe and his fiancée acknowledge that the prospect of securing a retrial is slim. They are nevertheless exploring their legal options with the Crown Prosecution.
The family’s campaign is also seeking to ensure that the alleged problem with the judge’s directions is examined, even if the original verdict cannot be changed. Mr Thorpe said that if the case could not be reopened, any issue involving directions that misled the jury must not happen again.
“You can’t murder or accidentally kill someone, flee the scene, and get away with it,” he said, describing the outcome as disgusting.
The Aria Thorpe case has therefore become both a challenge to the verdict and a wider appeal for scrutiny of how juries are directed in serious criminal trials. The family is asking the Court of Appeal and the Attorney General to consider whether the legal instructions given to the jury were correct.
Mr Thorpe said the family would continue to examine its options despite recognising the obstacles created by double jeopardy protections.
Source: Metro News
