JUSTICE FOR ARIA THORPE
Aria Thorpe was described by her family as a bubbly, happy child who loved dressing up and country music. She had celebrated her ninth birthday with a K-pop themed party only weeks earlier. On 15th December 2025, she died at home in after being stabbed once in the chest. She was nine years old.
A teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons as he was a child at the time, was charged with her murder. At a two-week trial at Bristol Crown Court in June 2026, he told the jury he had picked up a kitchen knife intending to frighten Aria, and accepted in his own words that he was "100% to blame" for her death.
The jury acquitted him of both murder and manslaughter.
WE CANNOT LET JUSTICE BE EVADED IN FUTURE CASES
On 31 July 2026, I wrote to the Attorney General, asking her to use her power under section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1972 to refer the point of law to the Court of Appeal.
The letter sets out the family's concern about the jury directions, and asks that the point be treated as meeting the threshold of general public importance that section 36 exists to address , given what it calls the significance of the boundary between murder, manslaughter, and cases where a defendant may otherwise escape any conviction for a killing they admit causing.
The letter asks the Attorney General to:
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Review the transcript of the judge's directions to the jury in this case;
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Consider whether the point is suitable for a reference under section 36 of the Criminal Justice Act 1972; and
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Meet with Aria's family and Ms Braverman to discuss the case in person.
A reference to the Court of Appeal under section 36 exists purely to clarify a point of law for future cases. It cannot overturn an acquittal or reopen this trial, the family have been clear they are not seeking that.
If the Court of Appeal agrees the direction was wrong, its ruling would guide how judges direct juries in similar cases going forward.