Teen handed life-sentence for murder after his own mum turned him in
A teenager has been handed a life sentence after being found guilty of the murder of another teenager in a stabbing incident.
Joshua Delbono, 19, was apprehended by police after his mum alerted them that he had stabbed another teenager, 16-year-old Charley Bates, to death.
A court had heard about how Charley had been stabbed with a knife multiple times on the evening of Sunday, 31 July last year in a car park in the town of Radstock.
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He suffered wounds both to the chest and his arm, and was pronounced dead just 30 minutes later.
A witness reported that, as Charley bled to death, Delbono called out 'don't mess with us again', before fleeing the scene.
The court heard of how Delbono then drove to Shearwater lake in Wilshire, threw away the knife and burned some of the clothes he had been wearing during the attack.
Footage of the fire, filmed by a friend on a mobile phone, would later be used by police as evidence.
Delbono's mother called 999 as soon as he returned home from the run-in.
"My son's killed someone," she told the call handler, according to police. "He's in my house now but I can't let him go anywhere."
She also said: "He's here. I've told him I've got to do it," before passing the phone to Delbono.
Although Delbono had admitted to stabbing the 16-year-old, he denied murder and insisted he had acted in defence of a friend.
It wasn't long after that phone call that officer arrested Delbono on suspicion of murder.
Later, in a prepared statement, Delbono claimed: "I thought my friend was being stabbed - this caused me to react."
He added: "I didn't realise he was hurt. It was a chance encounter. I'm truly devastated Charley was fatally injured, it was never my intention."
After a two-week trial in Bristol Crown Court, a jury found Delbono guilty of murder.
As a result, he has been ordered to serve a minimum of 21 years in prison.
Judge William Hart told Delbono that he 'lost self-control and of his senses' during the senseless incident.
"Charley had had no intention that this should have been anything other than a punch up between two boys," said Judge Hart..
"You slashed at him causing a number of injuries - one to his arm, then, when there was no reason, you stabbed him through the heart."
Charley Bates' mother Helen Freeman spoke in a victim statement in court, describing her rush to the car park to get to her son before he passed away.
"Arriving at the scene, there was a complete lack of activity. The silence told me all I needed to know. I was too late and he was gone," she said through tears.
"I have tried hard to take some solace from 'Charley Boy's' death, by hoping that he will be the last to be taken by knife crime. But that is not so.
"It would seem that my son Charley died for nothing. So many pointless, senseless deaths. Such a tragic waste of lives."
Ali Condon