Before you continue
This case involves crimes against children. Casepin presents the record in neutral, non-graphic language. Choose whether to continue.
Solved case · 2021
The short answer
Ava White, a 12-year-old girl, was fatally stabbed in the neck in Liverpool city centre on 25 November 2021 following an argument with a group of boys over a Snapchat video. A 14-year-old boy, named in 2025 as Harry Gilbertson, was convicted of her murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
The coverage index
No one's coverage is attached to this file yet.
Know great coverage of this case?
A documentary, a podcast episode, a careful long-form video. Suggest it and an editor will review it before it appears here.
Suggest coverage for Murder of Ava WhiteThe case file
On 25 November 2021, 12-year-old Ava Martin White was with a group of friends aged between 11 and 15 near the Royal Court Theatre in Liverpool, waiting for the switching on of the city's Christmas lights. A separate group of boys, aged between 13 and 15, began filming the girls with the intent of sharing the footage on Snapchat. Ava asked the boys to stop filming and to delete the recording. An altercation followed in which the unarmed girls ran towards the boys, and a 14-year-old boy in the group stabbed Ava in the neck with a knife before laughing and running from the scene.
The boy and his friends fled and disposed of evidence, including a coat and knife thrown away as they ran, before entering a nearby shop to buy butter, which the boy later said was intended "to use on crumpets." The boy's mother was contacted by police shortly after the stabbing and warned her son that police were searching for him; he replied that he was "not coming home, not going the cells." Four teenage boys were arrested in Toxteth later that night.
Ava was taken to Alder Hey Children's Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 10:16 pm. On 28 November 2021, the 14-year-old boy was charged with her murder and with carrying a blade. He was remanded into custody, and the three other boys arrested were released without charge.
At a two-week trial at Liverpool Crown Court, the boy initially denied murdering Ava, claiming another boy was responsible, before later changing his account to assert he had acted in self-defence. The court was shown CCTV footage, police-recorded interviews, and a 20-second clip depicting the stabbing. Ava's friends gave testimony. He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 13 years. He was not publicly named for legal reasons until 2025, when he was identified as Harry Gilbertson.
Ava was killed on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and is believed to be the youngest victim of knife violence in the UK since Damilola Taylor in 2000. Following her death, Everton F.C. and Liverpool F.C. fans held a round of applause and displayed an anti-knives banner during a match on 2 December 2021. On 23 January 2022, a crowd gathered outside Anfield stadium with balloons bearing the number 13 or the letter A to sing songs in her memory.
6 dated entries · 2009–2025
Ava Martin White is born to Robert and Leanne White.
Ava White is stabbed in the neck near the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool, following an argument over a Snapchat video; she is pronounced dead at Alder Hey Children's Hospital at 10:16 pm.
A 14-year-old boy is charged with Ava's murder and with carrying a blade; three other arrested boys are released without charge.
Everton F.C. and Liverpool F.C. fans hold a round of applause and display an anti-knives banner in Ava's memory.
A crowd gathers outside Anfield stadium with balloons and songs in memory of Ava.
The convicted killer is publicly named as Harry Gilbertson after legal restrictions are lifted.
2 named in this file
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
12-year-old girl fatally stabbed in the neck in Liverpool on 25 November 2021.[3]
Convicted of the murder of Ava White; sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 13 years. Not named publicly until 2025 due to legal restrictions in place at the time of the offence, when he was 14 years old.[3]
From the record
3 cited
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
PressBBC NewsAccessed Jul 7, 2026
PressSky NewsAccessed Jul 7, 2026
EncyclopedicWikipediaAccessed Jul 7, 2026
Trust
Are you family of someone named in this file? Corrections and removal requests from victims’ families are prioritized.
Near this case
OVERTURNEDListenFearnley Road, off Borough Road, Birkenhead, Merseyside · 1980s
Peter Sullivan spent 38 years in prison for the 1986 murder of Diane Sindall before DNA evidence exonerated him in May 2025, making him the longest-serving known victim of a miscarriage of justice in British history. The real perpetrator remains unidentified.
Credit: The Julia Wallace Murder Foundation (williamherbertwallace.com)·Editorial use·SourceUNSOLVEDListen29 Wolverton Street, Anfield, Liverpool · 1930s
Julia Wallace was beaten to death in her Liverpool home in January 1931 after her husband William was lured away by a hoax phone call. He was convicted but the Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the verdict months later, and the killing remains officially unsolved.
Credit: KAIDENBEARD10·CC BY-SA 4.0·SourceSOLVEDListenNew Strand Shopping Centre area, Bootle, Merseyside · 1990s
In February 1993, two-year-old James Bulger was abducted from a Bootle shopping centre by two 10-year-old boys, Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, who tortured and killed him before leaving his body on a railway line. Both were convicted of murder later that year, becoming the youngest convicted murderers in modern British history, and were released on life licence in 2001 after serving eight years.
SOLVEDListenLeongatha, Victoria, Australia · 2023
Erin Patterson murdered three relatives and seriously injured a fourth by serving beef Wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms at a family lunch in Leongatha, Victoria, in July 2023. She was convicted on all charges in July 2025 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Credit: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children·Editorial use·SourceOVERTURNEDListenColorado Springs, Colorado · 2020
Gannon Stauch, an 11-year-old boy from Colorado Springs, was reported missing on January 27, 2020, and later found to have been murdered by his stepmother, Letecia Stauch (also known as Letecia Hardin), who was convicted in 2023 and sentenced to life without parole; her conviction was overturned on appeal in April 2026.
Satilla Shores, near Brunswick, Glynn County, Georgia · 2020
On February 23, 2020, 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery was chased by three white men in trucks while jogging in the Satilla Shores neighborhood near Brunswick, Georgia, and was fatally shot by Travis McMichael after a struggle. No arrests were made for over two months until a video of the killing went viral, after which Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael, and William "Roddie" Bryan were charged, tried, and convicted of murder and other crimes in state court, and later convicted of federal hate crime and attempted kidnapping charges.
