A 16-year-old boy has been found guilty of murdering Sussex teenager Joshua Ingram in a knife attack prosecutors said was triggered by an unpaid £20 cannabis debt.
A 16-year-old boy has been found guilty of murdering Sussex teenager Joshua Ingram in a knife attack prosecutors said was triggered by an unpaid £20 cannabis debt.
Joshua, who was also 16 and lived in Newhaven, was stabbed at Seaford railway station in East Sussex on 10 September 2025.
A jury at Hove Crown Court convicted the defendant of murder following a trial.
The killer cannot be named because he is under the age of 18.
The court heard the teenager had supplied Joshua with cannabis during the summer of 2025 and believed he was owed £20.
Messages shown to the jury revealed that he had threatened Joshua in the months before the killing and said he was prepared to receive a lengthy prison sentence over the money.
Prosecutor Rossano Scamardella KC said the teenager travelled to Seaford on the afternoon of the attack with a 19-centimetre knife hidden inside his tracksuit bottoms.
Joshua was at the railway station with a friend when the defendant approached them at around five o’clock.
His friend told the court the teenager asked whether he was Joshua before stepping forward, pulling out the knife and stabbing him twice without hesitation.
The court heard Joshua was struck from behind and had no opportunity to defend himself.
One of the wounds penetrated around 15 centimetres into his body and damaged his heart.
Joshua managed to take only a few steps before collapsing on the platform.
Members of the public and emergency workers tried to save him, but he died within an hour of the attack and before he could be taken to hospital.
The defendant had admitted manslaughter but denied murder, claiming the stabbing had been a tragic and reckless act and that he had not intended to kill or cause serious harm.
He told the court he had bought the knife through the messaging app Telegram and regarded it as an accessory.
However, jurors rejected his account and convicted him of murder.
Two other teenage boys, aged 17 and 15, were cleared of conspiring to cause grievous bodily harm.
The 15-year-old was convicted of assisting an offender, while the 17-year-old had previously admitted the same offence.
Joshua’s family described him following his death as a “cheeky chappie who was loved by many” and said he had been taken from them far too soon.
All three teenagers are due to be sentenced on 2 October.
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