Boy, 14, tried to murder love rival after impersonating his own girlfriend on Snapchat

A 14 year old thug, who had previously subjected another boy to a brutal assault while armed with a knife in a city centre car park, attempted to murder a love rival two years later. Kevin Biji was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday after he stabbed his victim in the heart with a machete.

The 16 year old, wearing a balaclava, lured his target into a dark alleyway by impersonating his own girlfriend on Snapchat before launching the horrific attack. The other teenager nearly died from being stabbed twice in the chest and was only saved due to life-saving surgery.

A trial at Liverpool Crown Court revealed that Biji and the complainant attended the same sixth-form college and were involved with the same girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons and will instead be referred to as Girl A. On the evening of April 9 this year, the boy - also aged 16 - was at home when he received a Snapchat message from her account "inviting him round to her house for sex".

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David Birrell, prosecuting, described how the teen was "a little suspicious" and asked "whether she was with the defendant", but was told that she was not. They then agreed to meet down a side street off Hailsham Road in Aigburth.

A teenager cycled to a secluded alleyway and was ambushed around 10.30pm by an assailant, Biji, who "suddenly emerged" wearing a balaclava and wielding a "machete about a foot long". The now 17 year old from Kamala Way in Norris Green, "lunged" at his victim with the weapon while claiming "That's my ting", referring to Girl A, as the boy tried to defend himself with his bike, reports the Liverpool Echo.

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Despite suffering two stab wounds to the chest, he managed to escape on his bicycle, even as his attacker yelled for him to "come back". He reached home and alerted his mother and sister, who gave first aid.

After messaging his own "on-off girlfriend", Girl B, that he "had been stabbed and might die", he was taken to Aintree Hospital. There, doctors found the blade had pierced his heart's membrane, causing a potentially fatal fluid build-up, but his life was saved by emergency surgery.

Girl B meanwhile messaged Biji and "asked him what had gone on". He replied by saying "he came here to f*** her" and chillingly warned that "he would do it to him again", as well as texting Girl A "telling her to hide her mobile phone".

The police visited his home in the early hours of the following morning, at which time he ran to the rear of the house and attempted to escape via the back garden before being detained by officers.

During a search of his bedroom, authorities discovered a knife and balaclava. Under interrogation, Biji presented a prepared statement in which he claimed he "simply went out to speak to" the other boy, who allegedly started attacking him with his bike.

He insisted that he used the machete in self-defence, contending "he didn't even know he had stabbed" the complainant. However, medical testimony later indicated that the victim's injuries were "not consistent with accidental contact", asserting the wounds were inflicted by a "razor-sharp knife" with "a lot of force, equivalent to a hard punch".

The jury convicted Biji of attempted murder, after he had already pleaded guilty to wounding with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm and carrying a bladed article in public, while denying he had any intention to kill. His record includes a conviction from 2022 for inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent and having a bladed weapon in public when he was just 14.

The court heard that this involved a "prolonged attack, during which the victim lay defenceless on the floor". Mobile phone footage showed Biji "astride the victim punching him repeatedly and kneeing him to the head" and in possession of a knife.

The complainant in this matter was left with multiple bruises to the head and a 2cm wound to the scalp. His assailant, a "daily" cannabis user was ultimately handed a youth referral order over the assault only four months before he attempted to kill his next victim.

Normally, media cannot name defendants under 18, but in a rare move a judge has lifted these restrictions following an ECHO legal challenge, citing the "great gravity" of his offense.

Lloyd Morgan, defending, told the court last week: "Kevin wants me to express his regret, remorse and shame at committing this offence. The issue at trial was his intention. He accepted causing the injuries. If the opportunity was presented to him of restorative justice he would welcome that opportunity which is, for someone of his age, a very mature step.

"A sentence of life detention is always a sentence of last resort. That should particularly be the case with a young offender. He suffered many childhood traumas that impacted his development, emotionally and mentally.

"While his previous conviction is serious and it involved the carrying of a knife, it was committed when he was 14 years of age and two years before this offence. While he was in possession of a knife on that occasion, he did not use the knife to inflict the injuries that were sustained by the victim in that case.

"He had been exposed to domestic violence. He was displaced from his parents. He moved out and was brought up by his grandparents until he was seven or eight.

"He witnessed alcohol abuse by his father. He lacked a positive male role model during the course of a difficult upbringing of emotional abuse and neglect. These are not excuses for his behaviour, but they do provide an explanation as to why this young man may have behaved in the way he did."

Appearing via video link from HMP Wetherby dressed in a grey Nike jumper, Biji held his head in his hands and shook his head after being given a life sentence with a minimum term of 10 years in a young offenders' institute. He was also issued a restraining order prohibiting him from contacting his victim indefinitely.

In sentencing, Judge Stuart Driver KC stated: "The defendant put on a balaclava and picked up the knife. He ambushed his victim. He stabbed him twice with the force of a hard punch. He wanted him to die."

"The victim continues to suffer physical harm, including a large permanent scar, and psychological harm. The facts of this offence are very grave. A pre-sentence report concludes that he poses a very high risk of serious harm to others. What I observed of Kevin during the trial showed nothing to undermine that suggestion

"It was planned. The victim was deliberately lured into a trap. There was an intention to kill and death was only avoided, firstly, by mere luck and, secondly, by surgical skill.

"The level of risk is, in my judgement, regrettably very high. There is no reliable estimate of the length of time that Kevin will remain such a danger.

"Accordingly, the available alternative sentences do not provide sufficient protection. Although a sentence of detention for life is a sentence of last resort, in my judgement, not withstanding the youth of the defendant, I am driven to the conclusion that the facts are clearly such as to justify the imposition of a sentence of detention for life."