A teenage girl who stabbed another girl to death in a street fight that had been planned in advance has pleaded guilty to murder. Kayla Smith, 18, fatally stabbed Chloe Watson Dransfield, 16, in the early hours of March 28, after Chloe was taken by her boyfriend, Blake Dowling, 18, to the home where Smith lived. Smith had earlier pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denied murder, before changing her plea to guilty of murder on the second day of her trial at Leeds Crown Court.

The court heard that Dowling had been in on-off relationships with both girls, and that they regularly argued over him. Dowling's mother said Smith was jealous and obsessed with her son's relationship with Chloe. Prosecutor Mark McKone told jurors that Smith made repeated threats by phone to stab Chloe, and that about two hours before the death she messaged Dowling saying she loved him and asking him to stop. A witness, Charlotte Parker, said she heard Chloe tell Smith she was not scared of her, and heard Smith screaming that she would stab her.S2

Prosecutors said Smith came out of a summer house in her grandfather's garden, followed by her friend Archie Rycroft, 20, and yelled "come on big girl" before stabbing Chloe five times in the neck and back. Rycroft is accused of recording the attack on a phone. Dowling and Rycroft both deny murder and manslaughter, and their trial continues. Mr Justice Cavanagh KC said he would sentence Smith after the trial is over, warning that the only sentence available for murder is life imprisonment, with a minimum term to be set.S1S2