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A man who tried to stab a nine-year-old girl to death in Christchurch has been jailed for 30 years.
Jordan Wilkes’s ‘disturbing online search history’ revealed ‘hideous intentions to kill and harm children’ in the weeks before the August 20 attack, Senior Crown Prosecutor Kelly Newman said.
It didn’t just show an ‘obscene interest in knives’ – the 29-year-old had also been researching the Southport stabbings in which three young girls were murdered on July 29.
Three weeks later, Wilkes emerged from his flat and lunged at two girls playing in the stairwell of the Gilder Close building.
Wilkes stabbed one of them in the jaw, shoulder and knee before the children fled to a neighbour’s flat. The attacker then put the knife in a bedside drawer.
‘She was a happy, care-free child who loved her independence’, the nine-year-old girl’s mother told the court in a statement.
That ‘bubbly, free-spirited child who enjoyed playing outside with friends’ is now ‘frightened and untrusting of anyone she doesn’t know’.
Her mother said: ‘The girl [she] was is no longer with us.’
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‘This attack represents every parent’s worst nightmare’, Ms Newman from the Crown Prosecution Service said.
‘Believing their child is innocently and safely playing, only to be targeted in such a horrific manner.
‘We have been moved by the bravery of the victim and her friend throughout this process. We hope that they can begin to heal from such a terrifying ordeal.’
Judge William Mousley KC also praised the girls’ ‘great bravery that day’. But the attempted murder victim ‘has suffered serious psychological harm which is has permenantly and obviously scarred her’, the judge said.
Her friend is ‘absolutely terrified the man may come back and kill her and her entire family’, the girl’s mother told the court in a statement.
Deeming Wilkes a high risk to children, particularly if he feels bullied or ridiculed, the judge said: ‘He has an inability to retain his control when he loses his temper.’
Wilkes, of Christchurch, was convicted of attempted murder earlier this year.
Today the judge sentenced him to 30 years in prison, with an extended term of five years.
Although Wilkes’ lawyer, Nick Robinson, said the attack was unplanned and spontaneous, Wilkes had been researching murder on the morning of the attack.
He had accessed a video on the case of 14-year-old boy who stabbed a girl, 13, to death.
Wilkes had had previous encounters with police in 2020, when he was suspected of setting fire to a pram.
He assaulted an eight-year-old boy in 2016, leading to a 14-month suspended sentence. Wilkes had punched him in the knee and threw him on the ground before punching and kicking him.
In 2022, he had screamed at children with special education needs, who had mistakenly pressed his doorbell.
Ms Newman said: ‘Jordan Wilkes has proven himself to be a highly dangerous individual with an obscene interest in knives and violence.
‘Despite his attempts to deny his intent, our prosecution team meticulously constructed a compelling case that exposed his true motives to a jury.’
Speaking after sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Aimee Schock said: ‘This was a horrific knife attack on a defenceless young girl that could easily have had fatal consequences.
‘I want to thank the young victim in this case and her friend for the courage they have shown in giving evidence and helping to build a case against Jordan Wilkes, which ultimately led to his conviction for attempted murder.
‘Thanks to the swift response of the emergency services to this shocking incident, we were not only able to quickly provide immediate first aid to the young girl for her injuries but also arrested the defendant shortly after his violent attack.’
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