Kayla Smith stabbed Chloe Watson Dransfield to death during planned fight over young man
An 18-year-old woman who stabbed a teenage girl to death during a planned fight over a young man has pleaded guilty to murder.
Chloe Watson Dransfield, 16, was attacked by Kayla Smith, 18, after going to the latter’s home with her boyfriend Blake Dowling in Leeds, West Yorkshire, a court heard.
Smith had pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denied murder. She then changed her plea to guilty on the second day of her trial at Leeds Crown Court on Thursday.
Dowling, 18, who took Chloe to the house, and Archie Rycroft, 20, who followed Smith to the fight on 28 March, are also charged with murder and manslaughter and their trial will continue. They both deny the charges against them.
The judge, Mr Justice Cavanagh KC, said he would sentence Smith when the trial concluded, adding the only sentence he could give was life imprisonment but he would need to set the minimum term she must spend in custody.
The trial previously heard Dowling had been in a relationship with both Chloe and Smith and “knew of the bad feeling between the two females”, although they had never met in person before the fatal attack.
