Samuel Baker death: Boy admits fatal Sheffield stabbing

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-45734856

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A 15-year-old boy has admitted stabbing another teenager to death in what prosecutors described as "self-defence gone too far".

Samuel Baker, also aged 15, died after he was stabbed in the Lowedges area of Sheffield on 24 May.

The boy, who cannot be named, admitted manslaughter at Sheffield Crown Court.

He had appeared in court charged with murder but the manslaughter plea was accepted by the prosecution. The boy will be sentenced on 11 October.

Few details of the case emerged in court but David Brooke QC, prosecuting, said the defendant claimed Samuel had brought the knife to the scene and attacked him.

The boy also said he had previously been robbed at knifepoint by Samuel.

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Mr Brooke said it was not possible to prove conclusively who had brought the knife.

He said: "This is self-defence gone too far, with the use of a knife."

The prosecutor said Samuel had a difficult background and his family had been "perfectly candid" about the trouble he had been involved with in the past.

The judge, Mr Justice Nicklin, said: "What this defendant has accepted, by his plea, is that an unlawful act took place in the heat of the moment."

Samuel's death shocked the city and came amid a spate of knife-related deaths in Sheffield earlier this year.