Girl, 16, who yelled ‘Get him!’ as man ‘lured to seaside to satisfy her was killed with rocks and a bottle’ won’t give proof in homicide trial
A 16-year-old girl who yelled ‘f***ing paedophile’ at an electrician before he was killed with rocks and a bottle will not give evidence in her murder trial.
She was on holiday on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, with two boys – aged 15 and 16 when they first met Alexander Cashford, 49, at an amusement arcade last summer.
Mr Cashford gave the girl his number and they sent him messages using the fake name ‘Sienna’, arranging to meet him by the sea wall two days later on August 10.
The 16-year-old boy then followed Mr Cashford for 850 metres while he walked on the seafront with the young girl.
He was allegedly filmed by his friend catching up with the 49-year-old electrician and striking him across the back of the head with an empty glass bottle.
The 16-year-old boy was also seen by a witness hurling rocks at Mr Cashford’s head on the beach.
The victim was later found dead with multiple injuries.
The 16-year-old admits manslaughter but denies murder.
Alexander Cashford, 49, met the teenagers at an amusement park in Kent last summer
The other boy, 15, and the girl deny murder and manslaughter.
Filming the incident, the 16-year-old girl could be heard screaming at Mr Cashford: ‘I’m f***ing 16, you f***ing paedophile’, ‘f***ing paedo’, ‘get him’, and ‘f***ing nonce.’
The 16-year-old boy has admitted hitting Mr Cashford with a bottle, throwing a rock at him and kicking him on the ground after they chased after him.
Asked why he didn’t report Mr Cashford to police after he gave the girl his number the boy said: ‘I felt police would not have done anything.’
When he completed his evidence Danny Robinson KC, defending the girl, said she would not give evidence.
Mr Robinson then read out character references written by her parents and godmother as part of her defence case.
Her father explained that he had driven his daughter earlier that month to stay with her grandparents at their holiday home in Leysdown-on-Sea, Kent.
Another relative said of the girl: ‘She has always shown respect to others.
‘She has shown consideration and empathy beyond her years.’
Her godmother said the allegations against her were ‘out of character to the girl I have known for many years’.
The 15-year-old boy is expected to give evidence on Wednesday afternoon.
Previously, the court heard how the 16-year-old boy ‘fist bumped’ another teenager before beating Mr Cashford to death with a bottle and ‘cricket ball sizes’ rocks.
Jurors heard that the girl ‘wanted to expose Mr Cashford as a paedophile…and wanted to film any beating he got’.
Assisted by an intermediary, the 16-year-old was asked by Kate Blumgart KC, prosecuting, if the other boy ‘wanted to be part of the plan’. He replied: ‘Yes.’
Ms Blumgart added: ‘Did you think you were both going to hit him?’
He answered: ‘Yes.’
Ms Blumgart asked if he remembered ‘fist bumping’ with his male co-defendant.
‘Yes,’ he replied.
She added: ‘Because you were going to attack Mr Cashford?’, to which he said ‘yes’.
Ms Blumgart asked: ‘The girl wasn’t part of that attack. She was going to meet him?’
He replied: ‘Yes.’
The boy agreed they all thought it was a ‘good idea’ to move away from the crowds on the promenade before they attacked Mr Cashford.
Ms Blumgart asked: ‘Did you think you were going to chase him?’
He said: ‘I’m not sure what was going through my head. I saw the bottle and picked it up.’
Footage from the incident allegedly shows a glass bottle being thrown at Mr Cashford’s head
The boy told jurors he thought it would just cause a ‘bump’ to Mr Cashford’s head.
Ms Blumgart asked him: ‘Did you want to hurt him? Did you think the bottle on his head would cause serious injury?’
The boy replied: ‘No.’
Ms Blumgart asked: ‘Why did you try to hit him a second time?’, to which he said: ‘That was just what was happening.’
Ms Blumgart asked: ‘Was it because you wanted to hurt him really badly?’
He replied: ‘No. I wasn’t really sure what I was thinking. The plan was just for me hit him.’
She said the other boy also ‘just hit him’.
Ms Blumgart asked if the girl was ‘shocked and surprised’ when he hit him.
‘No,’ he replied.
Asked why he threw the bottle at Mr Cashford the boy replied: ‘Because he was too far to hit him with it.’
The boy agreed that he might have thrown a ‘cricket ball sized rock’ at Mr Cashford as he chased him but not while he was on the ground.
Ms Blumgart asked: ‘Did you or did you not throw a rock at him while he was on the floor?’
He replied: ‘I’m really not sure. I do not remember.’
The 16-year-old added that he may have ‘kicked him in the ribs with medium force’ but not ‘with everything I had’.
The court heard he later shared footage of the attack with three people, with the caption: ‘f****d pedo up lol [sic].’
The trial continues.
