Ava White's sister recalls moment she learned she was stabbed to death

2022-10-13

Ava White’s sister recalls moment she learned 12-year-old had been stabbed to death at Christmas lights switch-on

Ava White, 12, was killed by a 14-year-old boy known as ‘Boy A’ with a flick-knife
She was killed at a Christmas lights switch-on in Liverpool on November 25, 2021
Her sister Mia White, 19, said: ‘You can tell something is missing in the family’
Miss White and her family set up the Ava Foundation following her death
The foundation aims to prevent knife crime and similar tragedies in the future

The campaigning sister of murdered Ava White has recalled the moment she found out her 12-year-old sibling had been stabbed at a Christmas lights switch-on event.

Ava was killed by a 14 year-old known as ‘Boy A’ using a flick-knife last November 25th in Liverpool after she stood up to a gang of lads filming her friends for a mocking Snapchat video.

Her sister Mia White, 19, said when she got the phone call from her aunt that evening, she was told Ava had been in a fight, then another call came through saying she was ‘injured terribly’.

‘I don’t think I took a breath going from the bottom of the stairs, up the stairs and then back down into the taxi,’ she told BBC Newsbeat.

The campaigning sister of murdered 12-year-old Ava White (above) has recalled the moment she found out her sister had been stabbed at a Christmas lights switch-on event

Ava’s sister Mia White, 19, (left) said when she got the phone call from her aunt that evening, she was told Ava had been in a fight, then another call came through saying she was ‘injured terribly’ (Pictured: Ava (right) with her mother Leanne (centre) and sister Mia)

On the day Ava’s killer was sentenced to life – with a minimum of 13 years – at Liverpool Crown Court, her family unveiled their Ava White Foundation, with an aim to prevent knife crime.

Now Miss White has told how they have put resources such as bleed packs around the city, and she is keen to speak in schools and to pupils, to help them understand the horrific consequences of carrying blades.

Miss White said she still expects to see, ring and text her sister as the pain ‘sticks’ with her family.

‘I never thought this would be my life,’ she said. ‘I rarely see my friends and I just sit in my room, looking at (pictures of) me and Ava all the time.’

She added that the whole family feels the loss of her ‘funny, loving and caring’ sister.

She also said her and her mother do not go as often to visit young family members who remind them of Ava and used to play with her regularly.

‘It’s so different now, you can tell something is missing in the family,’ she added.

Pictured: The knife used to stab 12-year-old Ava White who died following an argument in Liverpool city centre on November 25

She told BBC’s Newsbeat she hopes to prevent similar tragedies, saying: ‘Every single day, I always go to ring Ava and text her just to see what she’s doing. I don’t think it’s ever going to sink in.

‘It needs to start at a really young age, wanting to engage. Because why would you ever want to ruin someone else’s life and your own?

‘No-one should be going through what we’re going through. But if I can stop one child from putting a knife in the pocket…’

Miss White says for Ava’s friends and family, what happened will ‘stick with them for the rest of their lives’ – and it’s that heartbreak that she wants to get across to anyone thinking about picking up a knife.

She added: ‘The danger you put yourself in when you put a knife in your pocket. I want to get the message out to stop doing it.’

A trial in May heard Ava and her friends became involved in an argument with the defendant and three of his friends after the boys recorded Snapchat videos of the group larking about after a Christmas tree lights switch-on event.

The killer later said he thought Ava was a boy, who might be armed, and feared she would ‘batter’ him.

The boy, who has attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and attended a special school, had previously been subject to a community resolution notice after hitting a PCSO.

Nick Johnson QC, defending, claimed his client was carrying the knife because he had previously been a victim of crime.

But friends of Ava said the boy ‘grinned’ after stabbing her just after 8.30pm. He carefully discarded his 3in knife and took off his coat, which was later found in a wheelie bin.

On the day Ava’s killer was sentenced to life – with a minimum of 13 years – at Liverpool Crown Court, her family unveiled their Ava White Foundation, with an aim to prevent knife crime

He then went to a friend’s home and when his mother contacted him because police wanted to speak to him, he told her he was busy playing Call Of Duty on a PlayStation 4.

When detectives later quizzed him about the murder he said: ‘I’m not bothered’ and told one officer: ‘Shut up you nonce.’

Last July vile yob Boy A, now aged 15, was jailed for life with mum Leanne White’s victim impact statement read to the court explaining: ‘My beloved Ava dies all over again every morning I wake up.

‘The moment Ava died is now yesterday, tomorrow and forever. It is the past, the present and the future. It is not just one horrific moment in time that happened last whenever.’

While Miss White said in her impact statement she wanted in the near future to help end knife crime for good.

She told the judge: ‘(Now) when I see youths hanging around the streets, I become anxious to walk past them in case they could carrying a knife which in turn causes me to experience feelings of fear and panic and an inability to cope with situations as I previously once did.

A 14-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was today found guilty of the murder of Ava White at a Christmas lights switch-on in Liverpool

‘The society we live in needs to be educated on how the ripple effect of knife crime affects families, the damage it causes and most importantly any families affected by murder are left with a life sentence to live that never ends. No early release nothing.

‘I want to help our youths in this city and I hope to be able to do so once my grief has eased by delivering talks on how the ripple effect of knife crime affects families and hopefully if I can change at least one child’s mind about using a knife I would have accomplished something special.’

Now this week Miss White has told the BBC that her family still see Ava everywhere – especially when they are around her peers.

Miss White added: ‘It’s so hard for me and my mum to be around the nieces and nephews because they’re all Ava’s age and all hung out together. She would always make them laugh.’

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