Original subtitles

Ambulance services the patient breathing.

Can you breathe? Can you breathe?

Can you breathe? Can you breathe?

Can you breathe?

Can you breathe?

Can you breathe?

Can you breathe? Can you breathe? Can you breathe? Can you breathe?

Can you breathe?

Can you breathe?

Can you breathe?

Hello?

Hangar 4 -1 strong.

Response officers from West Midlands Police are on their way to a serious

stabbing in South Birmingham.

Death.

Sound.

Single male, massive trauma to his chest and his belly.

Stop moving, little man.

How old are you, bro?

The badly injured teen is taken to hospital.

Did you see anything, mate?

Whilst officers try to find out what's happened.

I know, we just want to try to get your details.

They said

they've ran out the back of this car park and that's all we've got.

They don't want to talk to us at all, really, so... It's a bit difficult.

Lads have found a knife. We're extending the scene further up. Just hold.

I'm conscious of disturbing any evidence.

The next

morning,

forensic investigator Andy Biggin.

joined search officers to examine the crime scene.

I've done the big open area bits as well and the drains we can see all of them

actually with a torch.

You can obviously see the silver kitchen knife amongst what looks like duck down

feathers which may have been from a jacket of whoever's been involved in the

altercation.

The other side is quite heavily

kind of sold with moisture, having been on a wet ground.

There is a teenage child fighting for his life.

The biggest challenge of the scene is the sheer size to make sure nothing's

missed.

Because at this point, I'm unaware exactly what happened, where it happened

how it happened.

It's a large, large zombie knife.

25 metres away from the kitchen knife, Andy recovers a second deadly weapon.

Any utility of that's going to cause a significant amount of injury.

I'll photograph it with scale.

I'll make notes of what I've identified and we'll send it off to the major crime

lab to have that.

Examined. The knives were spread quite far away from each other, which would

suggest that the incident started in one location and perhaps finished in

another location.

The offenders could have fled in any direction.

With the victim fighting for his life in hospital, The case has escalated to the

homicide team, led by Detective Inspector Abe George.

Morning all, then.

So, briefing for Operation Tipping.

We were called by members of the public and also ambulance, saying that they

were treating a male who'd been stabbed to the chest.

An arrival at the QE described as actively dying due to his injuries.

He's got stab wounds to his bowel and his chest, his pancreas, his liver and

kidney, and he's lost one kidney.

This has a potential to become a murder investigation.

The victim can't be spoken to because he's in intensive care.

He can't tell us what's happened.

Overnight, there's already been a major development in the case.

I have two teenagers, Lincoln's three, who are brothers, both arrested from the

same address.

A 15 -year -old suspect with minor injuries and his brother have been

at a house near the crime scene.

after police were alerted by the ambulance service.

So, first suspect is currently in hospital with cuts to his hand and his

He can't account for his injuries because he can't remember how it

etc.

They come across his brother wearing a jacket that's got black kind of slash

marks on it.

They've made, obviously, the assumption that he could be involved and that he's

also been locked up for attempt murder.

Both brothers have been evasive with police and will be interviewed in

connection with the stabbing.

I'm presented with two people that are injured. One victim who's in hospital

with serious life -threatening injuries, but I also have the suspect who's also

got injuries.

So it makes it quite complex in terms of what might have actually happened at

the scene.

It could be that this was a chance meeting between the two.

They've got involved in a fight and it just so happens that the victim has come

off worse.

It could be that the victim has been attacked by multiple people.

There's a whole host of options that it could be.

And there are two witnesses that we're aware of at this moment in time.

Unfortunately, they wouldn't give statements yesterday. They've told us

categorically, go away, don't darken our doorstep again.

We don't want to give you any statements.

CCTV -wise, we've got the CCTV team who are going out and doing recovery for us

at the moment.

OK? Thank you.

Without any witnesses willing to talk to them, aide and DC Denisa Briscoe need

to gather more information from the scene of the brothers' arrest.

Officers were called to the brothers' house an hour after the stabbing.

when paramedics noticed signs of a knife fight.

I

mean,

he's obviously told the officers that he's been hit, but he's not really,

kind of disclosing how he's been hit.

I know, he seems to be quite vague about what happened.

If you're truly innocent, why not give us a full account? Why not tell us now

exactly what happened?

I think

you can

probably see from that injury to his hand and the injury to his other finger,

looks like a slash mark of some kind.

It feels to me at this moment in time that he's not particularly forthcoming

with information because perhaps he knows that he's been involved in some

of criminality.

This is the second suspect, his older brother, returning to the address.

Hello. What's your name, fella?

Listen, keep your hands where I can see them. What?

What?

I haven't.

He looks like he's got bits of fluff in his hair.

Yeah.

Yeah, there's bits of this kind of stuff near to where the victim was stabbed.

The issue that we've got, it's all circumstantial, so it doesn't actually

that they were part of that offence. Where we don't have any sort of direct

evidence, it does make things more difficult.

I'm hoping that forensics are going to be able to tell me exactly what

The victim received a single stab wound to his stomach.

but i have two suspects so the question is who's stabbed him

lead

forensic investigator joe ward assesses evidence gathered from the crime scene

to be sent for urgent testing you can see quite a large

kitchen knife

The concern is straight away for me is that it appears wet.

I think it's been raining, which may destroy any DNA that's on there.

It's really unusual to find weapons at the scene.

Normally, when we've got a scene where someone's been stabbed or injured, the

weapons are nowhere to be seen.

So this is a real golden nugget for us.

And then there's another knife.

In fact, it's a very large machete. I'm quite shocked.

that could do some serious damage. Young people are walking around carrying

these large weapons.

It's quite scary.

I've certainly seen over the years the weapons getting bigger.

The zombie knives, the machetes, the way it's designed is meant to kill. When I

was younger, if there was a fight, it involved fists, but now, unfortunately,

you're carrying something, you'll reach for that weapon.

For us, it gives us forensic opportunities to...

know certainly identify if there's any blood on those weapons but also who's

handled those weapons as well

first

technician holly roscola examines the kitchen knife for fingerprint ridge

that may help police identify the attacker i'm using a

range of light sources to see if i can find any visible mark

so i'm just going to look at the blade of the

knife i'm currently using uv

and i'm just trying to see if there's any rich detail

that may be exposed from the light sources

The blade is negative for any marks.

I'm going to look at the handle now.

And I can see some ridge detail on the handle of the knife.

It's just there.

But there's not enough to be able to send up to the fingerprint bureau.

So I'm going to class this as being no value.

As you can imagine, a kitchen knife you use regularly, so what tends to happen

is you get overlay of an overlay of fingerprints, so it's quite hard

to actually be able to get a decent identifiable fingerprint from it.

The focus turns to the 16 -inch machete, which is taken to be swabbed for DNA.

And I'll go ahead and I will take a handler sample.

This is to recover any possible cellular material of anyone who has handled the

knife.

So I've spotted some red -brown staining visible here on the cutting edge of the

blade.

And then you put a dap of KM on.

A drop of H2O2.

And there we have a nice pink reaction, which is an indication that there is

blood present.

So they get cut off and then put in an ortho -life tube, which will then get

sent to DNA.

We don't need an awful lot of blood nowadays to obtain a DNA profile from

No, we only need a pinprick -sized sample.

If this comes back to the victim, we can say that this knife has been used to

cause these injuries to the victim, and then it's about trying to identify if

one of the brothers actually handled that knife.

While the victim remains critically ill in hospital, suspect one, the 15 -year

-old who was also injured, is now fit to be questioned.

So, everything that we're seeing now is being audio and video recorded.

When I interview juveniles, I always try to bear in mind the fact that they are

children at the end of the day, and they might be scared, they might have never

been in police custody before, so it can be quite challenging to get them to

open up.

So, tell us about your involvement in this incident, if any at all.

I've got prepared statements, but we don't.

I deny the allegation of attempted murder. I will maintain that I am the

of a crime. I sustained injuries of a very serious nature. All these injuries

were sustained by a knife attack that I was subjected to. I will maintain that I

acted in self -defense.

I thought my own life was in danger. I responded reasonably.

I see your right hand in a cast.

Talk to me about how that knife caused that injury.

I remember I was hit first with the knife. Yeah, I chopped the knife.

Yes. I put my hand up.

Like this. The camera can see it now. To block it. Yeah. And then, yeah, I

chopped my hand.

And then what happened after that?

After that, I can't really remember.

I think I fell on the ground or something.

I think, yeah, I think I fell on the ground and then something hit me on the

back of my head. After that, I think I was knocked down.

He accepts his presence at the scene, but states that he was the one that was

attacked and he was just defending himself.

So it makes it difficult to establish who is, you know, a suspect and who is a

victim.

You say or maintain that I acted in self -defense, and then you say, I responded

reasonably.

Tell me about how you responded.

Not coming.

Did you stab him?

Not coming.

Self -defence is a really tricky one for us to prove, but also for us to

disprove.

It's not clear -cut.

We are going to have to look at, was he acting reasonably and proportionately?

Did he feel that his own life was...

you know in danger that he needed to like kind of lash out and so therefore

forensics are going to be really key in helping us build up a picture about what

happened and how he came by those injuries

to

help

investigate suspect wand claim of self -defense joe assesses the victim's

clothing for signs of how the attack unfolded.

As you can see, it's been cut down the middle, which has been caused by the

ambulance at the scene.

They put it back together.

Fucking cheeky poor fossil, this is.

Was it a prolonged attack?

They just attempted stabbing once to then prove whether it was self -defense

quite difficult.

We know a victim suffered one stab wound to the chest, but a victim's clothing

can tell you a completely different story to what you actually see on the

Sometimes on clothing we see more attempted kind of stab wounds and that

because, you know, the victim's running away or is moving and the weapon's only

just managed to actually cause the damage but not actually penetrated

the skin.

Straight away I can kind of see damage mark here and then a bit lower down,

of the waist area.

Again, it appears to have been caused by a sharp instrument.

And that's gone all the way through, but there's no corresponding marks in the T

-shirt. And the question is, has the weapon made contact with the actual coat

itself? It's gone through, but then not penetrated the actual T -shirt.

This clothing tells us that the attempt on the actual victim itself was more

than just that one stab wound.

It really highlights the level of force that was used, how frenzied the

attacker's been.

It's likely that his thick coat saved his life.

He's looking to be alive.

Police now want to interview the older brother, suspect two, whose own coat had

apparent flash marks when he was arrested.

Did you have any involvement in this incident?

I've got a prepared statement with half my client.

I denied the allegation of attempted murder. I'm not responsible for this

offence. I've not instigated or stopped anyone at all.

On the night in question, I was at home.

It was only after my brother went to hospital that I flew on the coat that he

was wearing that evening. That is my brother's coat.

This is because once the police and ambulance left, I was not thinking

and I went outside to go and see what happened.

I'll not be on CCTV at the time of the incident.

I deny the allegation entirely.

Thank you.

OK, so you threw on the coat he was wearing that evening.

What exactly made you put his coat on as opposed to your own coat?

I'm trying to keep an open mind as to what might have happened and there is a

possibility that he's telling the truth, that he was not involved.

But then equally, there is also a possibility that he's either covering

brother or he's also an offender.

OK, I haven't got any further questions.

Easy to be concluded.

At this moment in time, I can't categorically say that he's involved

incident. You know, this is a juvenile.

So I have a limited amount of time I can keep him in custody.

Is the forensic evidence going to actually tie him to the scene?

With Suspect 2 claiming the ripped jacket belongs to his younger brother,

sent for urgent DNA testing to see if they can confirm who was wearing it

the attack.

The first thing I'm going to do is take a wearer sample.

So I'm going to start by mini taping the inside collar.

the surface comes in contact with the skin it can leave behind little skin

flakes and oils and stuff and that's just what we're picking up on the tape

it should pick up any cellular dna that's in that area what we need to do

establish you know whose jacket that is however although they don't share the

same dna because everyone's got their own unique dna because they live

and they may share that jacket it may prove difficult to actually say who's to

wear off that jacket at the time of the attack.

I'm just looking at this area of damage to the hood.

The cuts have quite a straight edge to them, so it does look like the hood has

been cut by a sharp object such as a knife, rather than if it is

torn, the edges would look quite frayed and different.

There's quite a bit of red -brown staining here that looks like it could

blood. So I'm just going to use my scalpel to cut out a small area with

stain. I can get those samples sent off to DNA now and we'll see if we can get a

profile.

This jacket is really crucial to this investigation.

If that blood comes back to victim, then, you know, that would suggest that

person wearing that jacket was certainly at that scene and in close proximity to

the actual victim and involved in this incident.

Right, OK.

So that's the Sainsbury's camera. That camera is looking along that frontage,

it's pointing in that direction.

I've been able to get various items of footage.

CCTV specialist Zed Ahmed is piecing together footage from numerous cameras

in an attempt to track the movements of the brothers and victim on the night of

the attack.

CCTV work, it's quite niche and I think one needs a lot of patience.

It's really important that you don't miss any detail.

Because CCTV footage doesn't lie, it acts as a kind of reconstruction tool.

This is a short walk away from where the stabbing took place.

I can see the victim go to McDonald's with two other females.

You need to be cautious when watching.

nighttime footage.

It's grainy.

It can be quite misleading sometimes.

You can get the wrong impression.

So that's really important to keep an open mind.

He's in McDonald's for quite some time.

I just run it forward.

Two minutes past midnight, he leaves by himself.

Unfortunately for us, that part of the main road is not covered by CCTV cameras

and I can't track him any further.

It's chilling to think that he will be stabbed soon after this.

So, I just thought I'd update you because I've just had the results back.

Both knives found at the scene and the ripped jacket have been tested for DNA.

So if I start off with the silver kitchen knife, no blood was found on

there's no fingerprints that were found.

Then we go on to the machete, so there was blood that was found on the actual

blade, but that's come back to suspect one.

There was DNA that was taken from the handle and that has actually come back

the victim.

Okay. So, suggesting that that was the victim's knife.

Okay, that's interesting.

Why was the victim carrying a knife?

If he's had to go somewhere to meet somebody with a knife, he's potentially

expecting some trouble.

They've both stabbed each other.

Who struck who first?

Blood on the outside of the jacket has been profiled to suspect one, but no

victim's blood, so that fits in with the account of suspect two, that he's

actually borrowed his brother's jacket after the event.

I'm not sure if you've been given an update from the prepared statement that

suspect one gave in interview, which was that effectively he was acting in self

-defence, he was attacked, and that's obviously why he's lashed out.

So obviously some of those results does go some way to support his account.

I'll be sorting out your bail. So you are going to be released from custody

today, but there are going to be certain bail conditions that are going to be

attached to you by the law.

So far, none of the forensic evidence links suspect 2, the older brother, to

stabbing.

I don't feel that we've gathered enough evidence that we can go and approach the

Crown Prosecution Service in order to authorise charges.

It may actually be the evidence doesn't exist because he's not involved, but

equally the investigation will continue. It doesn't stop just because someone's

been bailed. Thank you, Sergeant.

Whilst suspect two is released on bail, his younger brother remains in custody.

So we've received in both Suspect 1 and Suspect 2's devices.

I'm going to take initial photographs of both of these.

In a bid to find a motive for the attack that connects the brothers to the

victim, all three teenagers' phones are sent for data to be downloaded.

Suspect 1's device, it's very damaged.

The camera smashed, the back smashed, a slight crack into the front of the

device.

just has to be very careful when we're extracting the data from this

just

showing that the device is encrypted apple devices are notoriously difficult

get into doesn't look like we've picked up a lot from images videos or chats

There's literally next to nothing.

Now, starting on suspect two's device.

I'm not actually seeing a lot of images, videos, or any kind of media

whatsoever.

Doesn't appear like there's much data from the extraction at all, because it's

probably a new phone, that's why.

Although the suspect's devices are encrypted, the victim's phone is

and the data downloaded for digital media investigator Sherry Watkins to

analyse.

When it comes to digital evidence these days, it's one of the most crucial

elements of an investigation, especially when you're dealing with teenagers.

They are addicted to their phones. The phones are the world. They're

So I know that the victim's phone was used to phone 999, so that call, I've

that on here.

That was at 0049 hours.

I'm going to go back a couple of hours and see if there's any content of note

there.

The first thing I want to do is look to see if there's any contact between the

victim and one of the suspects.

Chances are, with the age, it's going to be Snapchat, TikTok, because kids

rarely use network calls, network text messages these days. It's usually all

apps.

He's got some stuff on here that I'd usually find on teenagers' phones.

Chat here where he's swapping rap songs with somebody.

A lot of it's just chats with friends by the look of it, maybe a girlfriend.

What else have we got?

He's using Snapchat quite a lot.

You can do direct messaging, but the thing with Snapchat that attracts a lot

them to it is the fact that it disappears quickly afterwards.

So the content's gone, it can't be retrieved. But we have got some data

comes back on the phone.

From the data, Sherry is able to pinpoint communications between the

suspect one.

Looks like there's a large volume of messages between nine o 'clock at night

quarter to one, which is pretty much like a couple of minutes before this all

kicks off.

And there are 242 messages and they're literally like bang, bang, bang, bang,

bang. And there's a couple of phone calls, there's some video calls on

But annoyingly, I can't see any of the content.

It does make me wonder what was being said.

As much as it's frustrating because I don't have the content, those messages

were being bandied back and forth and they literally finished seconds before

attack had taken place, which would suggest that there was potentially a

prearranged meet between the victim and suspect one.

Got some further footage here from the Sainsbury's car park.

With the phone data suggesting a planned meeting, Zed has tracked the victim to

the car park close to where he was found stabbed and discovered a major lead.

I can see he's on his mobile phone.

He's now walking backwards and forwards.

I wonder whether he's waiting there for somebody.

To the left of the frame, I can see three individuals running in the

of the victim.

The victim is walking off to the right of the screen and these three

are chasing him.

Three individuals that are involved in this incident. That's significant, that

is.

Who is this third suspect?

Who is doing what?

The footage is not the clearest. It's dark at the time.

Their faces are covered.

They're wearing dark clothing.

At this moment, I'm unable to identify who the actual suspects are.

If I just pause it there and take it back slightly, I've just noticed

I've zoomed in here onto the CCTV footage.

And just there, something that caught my eye.

He's clearly holding an item that's shiny. It's got a reflective quality.

It's certainly consistent with a knife.

And he's holding that in his right hand as he's running in the direction of the

victim. I imagine to attack him.

The victim and the individuals have gone off the screen.

And I don't think I've got footage from that particular location.

Is it a setup?

It's very difficult then for a suspect to argue that they acted in self

and therefore used reasonable force if actually what they've done is arranged

meet somebody with a view to having some disorder with them.

There's obviously still some outstanding offenders.

There is either one or possibly two outstanding offenders.

It's really important that we get this third person into custody. The longer

that... takes the more opportunity they have to dispose of any weapons, any

clothing, dispose of any mobile phone, all things that may link them to the

other suspects and the scene.

I mean, with regards to the victim, actually, what's his current state at

minute? Is he still stable? So he's critical but stable.

They're still monitoring him. He's having regular scans.

We'll see what happens with him over the next couple of days and I'll let you

know. Yeah.

All right. OK.

Zed has widened his search for the three attackers on CCTV and alerts aid to new

footage he's found from the brothers' local area.

How are you getting on to it?

If you sit down, I'll just lead you through it.

Footage here shows suspect number two leaving his address.

Yep. Climbing out of the house through the downstairs window.

He then makes his way over the road.

to the other suspect's address, followed by suspect number one. OK. He takes the

same route.

Zed is able to track both brothers as they're joined by the third suspect

minutes before the stabbing.

Both suspects follow suspect number three and you see all three suspects as

walk onto the road and in the direction of the car park.

That's a good, clear image that is, isn't it?

All three suspects chase the victim.

We believe these three individuals have attacked the victim. This changes

everything. We have a third suspect. We now know that that person lives in the

same street as our two suspects.

An arrest team heads to the new suspect's address.

Where they find a 15 -year -old who resembles the figure seen on CCTV.

Suspect 2, the older brother who was released on bail, is also re -arrested.

We're here in relation to the incident that you were previously arrested for.

Basically, we've had further evidence that we need to question you about.

Where's your phone? We know you've got a phone here, mate. We can turn the place

upside down or you can give us the phone.

Give me the phone, otherwise... Stop being silly.

Stop being silly.

Did you hear what the allegation is regarding the attempt murder?

Vulnerable IP due to age?

Yes.

And what have you been arrested for?

Attempted murder.

You've heard what the officers have said, so pop your hands out of there for

please, mate.

I am authorising your detention here.

That means you're going to remain here with us for a time so that we can secure

and preserve evidence and you can be interviewed.

All right.

Police now have three teenagers in custody who are their prime suspects.

So, I've got the phone download for suspect three's phone now. And there's

of stuff on here with his mum.

I know I do that to the kids.

I can't be arsed to shout up the stairs to them.

Sorry for this morning. When you wake me up angry, I get in a bad mood, but I

cleaned the kitchen and the living room for you.

It's like, aw, when you read stuff like this, you realise that they are only

kids, aren't they?

I'm going to click on to the notes section.

So I've got 207 notes, and I can see already that there are some what looks

rap lyrics.

And it might be a case of, if I go through all these lyrics, there might be

something mentioned in the incident.

Teenagers will talk quite freely amongst each other when it comes to their

phones. They think it's a safe environment.

They'll have, like, a false sense of security that what they're discussing

never be read by anybody and are often surprised when they are.

So, if we have a little listen.

He's, like, sitting in the trap.

Probably a car.

I chop it down to stones, which is

going to be potentially a reference to a drug line.

Looks like there's some stuff around drug dealers.

Some lists and some amounts.

There's lots of references about...

Chinging people, splashing people, wetting people, which all of them are in

reference to stabbing.

Wearing ballys, balaclavas, shanks, which are knives.

Certainly doesn't really paint.

No pretty picture, does it?

Teenage slang. It's really hard to decipher sometimes.

You have to decode them.

Latest one I've got was fleas. That was a new one on me.

I thought that was a person for a while because people had some crazy street

names and then it turned out that Fliz was bad.

Difficulty is they share lyrics and they share songs with each other but it's

hard to work out whether they're talking about something that has actually

happened, whether it's something they want to get involved in or whether it's

just pure fantasy.

Trying to work out what's facts and what's fiction really.

Sherry also examines a new unencrypted phone from Suspect 2.

which police found on him when he was re -arrested.

He's got nearly 45 ,000 images on this phone, but I can filter them down.

This one here tags tonight's vibe of a male

posing with what looks like a very large hunting knife.

Now, his face is blurred out, but there's a second video, like literally

minutes after this, of suspect two, and I can see it's him.

His face isn't blurred and he's wearing exactly the same clothing.

So it looks like he has had, or has in his possession, a rather large hunting

knife at some point.

I mean, this kid here's got a Rambo knife.

And these are all different kids. I don't know who they are, but they all

about the same age, like mid to late teens.

You're talking Rambo knives and zombie knives, they're that big. And they're

deadly weapons.

They're really blasé about it. They don't seem to care.

that shouldn't just be a normal thing for you know 15 16 year olds to do but

seems like it is these days

sherry updates

aids team to see whether any of these discoveries can be used as evidence

profile two phone yeah that we've had off him there's a lot of pictures of

isn't there they're looking at me are they vile they're like giant like

knives

I can't see anything that specifically mentions the incident itself that I can

see. OK.

Attempted murder is a very difficult crime to prove. We have to demonstrate

the court that those individuals had the intention to kill the victim so that

they jointly acted together in order to inflict that injury. Can we actually

prove that?

The knife used to attack the victim has not been found.

So Jo meets with digital imaging specialist Lucy McGregor to analyse a 3D

of his injuries.

The stab wound would have been along this line somewhere.

This is just a scar from where they've opened him up for surgery to assess the

damage within his stomach area.

The process, known as body mapping, may reveal clues to what kind of knife was

used.

It did a lot of damage on the inside, so there was wounds to the front and back

walls of the stomach and also the left lobe of the liver was damaged as well,

well as a laceration to the pancreas.

The left kidney was also damaged and had to be removed.

So it must have gone in quite deep then, hasn't it?

Yeah, very deep, yeah.

Body mapping is really useful because you can see the angle that the knife's

gone in.

There could be a whole range of scenarios of what position he was in, if

moving at the time or was he crouched down when the knife came towards him.

It's obviously quite a significant weapon to have caused those injuries.

Whether it's perhaps gone in at an angle as well or kind of repeatedly gone in.

Possibly an angle to then hit his kidney up here.

There's a lot of questions and a lot of unknowns really of the kind of sequence

of events.

I think the impact is when you actually say, oh, my God, it's gone right through

and it's nicked his kidney.

But the frustrating part is the fact that we can't identify which weapon was

used and who actually used that weapon to cause the injury to the victim.

This could kind of jeopardise the case, really.

On this particular CCTV footage, we've got all three suspects.

as they make their way away from the crime scene to poke defence.

After searching dozens more cameras, Zed has located the suspects fleeing down a

side street and found more than just images.

It appears as if they are avoiding the main roads and this particular footage

has audio recording. Brilliant.

You can hear they're having a conversation amongst each other.

I'll just adjust the setting here.

So the one suspect says to the other, is that your blood? And he replies, no.

Takes his jacket off and hands it to the other suspect.

They then go off onto a side road.

This particular footage here that we've obtained also has audio.

He's quite far ahead of you, isn't he? Look, he's powering ahead.

He's saying that he's dropped his shank.

OK. So that he's dropped his weapon.

One of the other suspects then said he's done the same. The third suspect says

that he's in possession of his weapon.

That CCTV with the audio is really a key find.

All three suspects make reference to either being in possession of a knife or

having been in possession of a knife, and clearly this is incriminating

evidence.

And all three then run off, off camera.

You can hear the sirens in the background, can't you? I wonder if

makes them start to run.

The audio footage from the CCTV demonstrates that they were all armed

weapons.

It suggests to me, really, that all three people jointly acted together in

to inflict that injury.

One of them, it looks like he's holding his head.

Right. You see here that right hand is touching the back of his head.

I imagine he may have sustained an injury during this altercation. And I'm

that suspect number one did sustain a head injury as well as an injury to his

hand.

All three suspects now face questioning about the new footage.

Starting with 15 -year -old suspect three.

I want to show you some footage.

And this has got sound, so I want you to pay attention to what you can hear as

well.

Come and drop my shank.

What does that mean?

His shank means knives, doesn't it?

So you're shouting back at them that you dropped your knives?

Do you agree that that's you who said that?

Which one of the brothers said that?

Suspect two, the older brother, who previously denied being at the scene, is

next to be re -interviewed.

I'm going to show you now some images of these three males entering the rear

at Sainsbury's.

I believe that person there is yourself. Can you tell me any different?

No.

What was your purpose of going on Sainsbury's car park?

No.

Did you have a knife when you entered that car park?

No comment.

You see, that person there has got an object in his hand. Can you tell me what

that is?

No comment.

Is it a knife?

No comment.

Suspect 1 is also questioned about the evidence, which challenges his claim of

self -defence.

This is my final offer to you. Will you tell me in detail everything that

happened during that incident?

I reiterate, I am not guilty of attempt murder.

I feel I am a victim in this case also.

Had I not sent myself, I believe I would have been killed.

I would make you no further comment.

Right, 1742, and I'm switching the machine off, thank you.

We have three suspects who have been present.

or have attacked our victim for me that diminishes the self -defense

aspect that was put forward by suspect one and made it less believable

so i now really need the victim's account to help build that

story that then gives the best understanding about what happened that

Right, so do you want to talk me through basically what happened for you?

There's a breakthrough for the team.

The victim is finally well enough to give a witness statement and reveal his

version of events.

We had agreed on meeting up, just me and him.

We never agreed on no fighting, no violence, but we just agreed on meeting

He confirmed that suspect one arranged to meet him on the night of the

He had sent me a snap.

He said, oh, I'm on my way.

He was just saying he doesn't want problems. He was convincing me, making

seem like, oh, it was all going to be fine.

And when did you fall out with him?

We played for the same football team. He was my friend as well.

It's just we fell out after I had a problem with one of his friends who used

also play for that team.

So you had a problem with me over... It was a play fight.

That went too serious and he threatened to stab me.

I look up and then I see three masked people running up at me.

And then they pulled out their knives.

Okay.

His older brother had a kitchen knife and his other accomplice had two knives.

don't know what type of knives though, but he took out two knives.

So then I took out my knife and held it out towards them. Okay, so tell me what

made you...

Take your knife out at that point.

Because I knew they were trying to kill me. That was their intention.

What made you take that knife with you when you went to see him?

I felt like the need to have something to protect myself just in case.

Because I know the type of person he is.

So what was your intention when you took that knife with you?

For self -defence. I just wanted to keep it to myself.

They were all running up at me.

They were all just trying to swing at me and I was just trying to swing to keep

them away from me.

OK, so hold it there for a second.

And what was your intention when you were just winding your knife? To get

back, to get them to run away.

They would go back to pretend they were going to go away, then they would come

back again and try and attack me.

They just wanted to kill me.

Who's coming at you?

They all took swings at me.

It was like they were taking turns. They were playing with me.

They knew they could kill me, but they were just playing with me.

And that was when he just came and he stabbed me through.

The victim named Suspect 1 as the person who stabbed him in the chest.

I didn't feel pain.

I just felt like there was something inside me.

And then when he was trying to take it out, it was just like it jammed in my

kidney.

And that was when I swung as well, because the adrenaline kicked in. I

remember. I'm pretty sure I cut him somewhere here on his arm.

When you struck him with your knife, how many times did you do it?

I can't remember.

Pretty sure it was once or twice.

I just started running down the road. I was running for my life because

adrenaline had helped me.

I was just running.

It's really pleasing that the victim's given us an account and that he is

willing to support our investigation.

But it's really important that we don't just take it at face value.

You know, we need to make sure that what we're being told is true.

That's interesting.

And there are some lyrics on here.

One of them has actually got the street name of our victim in it as well.

Sherry has been digging deeper into Suspect 2's new phone, which he used

the offence, and hidden amongst the many notes, discovered a song lyric.

Doctor NHS, are you taking the piss?

And then the street name of our victim. Should have got packed that day.

But he got revived.

Three shanks up. When we booked that prick, we done it all fliz.

But we don't give a shit. 36 hours, banged up in cells.

I ain't no rat.

Don't talk to the pigs.

Fuck. Street name of our victim.

Should have been in Muscliffe.

They're mentioning our victim.

They're mentioning the fact that he should have got packed that day, which

suggest means body bagged, killed, but he got revived.

Three shanks up. Three knives up.

But I ain't no rat, don't talk to the pigs.

Great. That first verse definitely sounds like what happened on the night.

mentioning our victim and he's clearly very upset that the NHS managed to save

his life.

I find it mind -boggling that you would brag about nearly killing somebody.

I just, I can't wrap my brain around that.

It's like writing a confession down in the form of rap.

It's so incriminating.

Aid meets with Joe to assess whether there's strong enough evidence to charge

all three teenagers with attempted murder.

Attempt murder is probably one of the hardest penalties because you've got to

show that intent.

We need to show that there was an intention to kill.

The victim is saying that he was attacked by all three people.

We know from phones that there was potentially a...

a meet -up arranged and therefore that they've gone there in order to like kind

of sort out some issue like kind of between them I think that shows actually

that they were all aware of what was going on that night it's good they got

of three against one haven't you yeah yeah which shows that they were the

aggressors yeah we know that suspect one has got some injuries but the severity

of like kind of the victim's injuries the fact that he was on his own And the

fact that obviously he's seen people running towards him, that evidence is an

element of planning, I think diminishes self -defence.

Given that knife crime is such an issue, I think it's only sensible really that

we discuss that with CPS.

We've got mobile phone evidence, we've got CCTV evidence.

By putting it all together, that then helps us to show what had happened.

and able to demonstrate to the court these three individuals have attacked

victim and caused that very significant injury to him.

Can you come and stand at the desk, please? Thank you.

While going to be charged, they came with some very serious offences.

The Crown Prosecution Service decides that all three suspects should face the

same charges.

You're going to be charged with the following offences.

First offence, attempted murder.

Second charge, had with you in a public place an article which had a blade or

was sharply pointed, namely a kitchen knife.

I do know that you're 15 years of age and they are very serious and grave

offences for which you've been charged.

It is hard sometimes to step back and think, wow, these are only like 15, 16,

-year -old kids.

When you really boil it down, we're not talking about grown adults here, we're

talking about kids that have got their whole lives in front of them.

What the hell are you doing? If you understand those charges, if you can

right here, that's not to say you're admitting to anything, it's just to say

that you've understood the charges.

We never take the pleas to lesser offences lightly, but it's incredibly

difficult in order to prove an attempted murder. And actually, I believe this

was the right thing to do in these circumstances.

We have achieved some justice for the victim and his family, and hopefully

will set a clear message to young people to the dangers of knife crime and the

dangers of carrying knives.

Unfortunately, a case like this, you know, it affects so many people.

The victim has got now life -changing injuries for the rest of his life.

I can only imagine what the victim's family, but also the suspect's family,

going through.

It's so sad that they've got their whole life ahead of them.

You know, I'm sure they all had aspirations of what they wanted to do in

future.

You know, that's been taken away from them, really, from...

a moment of bad choices that they've all made.

Every contact leaves a trace that forensic experts can follow.

Explore it for yourself with the Open University's new interactive case

simulator.

Scan the QR code on screen or visit connect .open .ac .uk forward slash