Kayla Smith pleads guilty to murdering Chloe Watson Dransfield

Kayla Smith pleaded guilty to murdering 16-year-old Chloe Watson Dransfield on the second day of her trial at Leeds Crown Court, changing her plea from manslaughter. Smith, 18, had previously denied murder, and the Crown had not accepted her manslaughter plea. The trial of her two codefendants continued.

Dransfield was stabbed five times in the back and neck during a fight on Kennerleigh Avenue in Austhorpe, Leeds, in the early hours of March 28. She was taken to hospital by ambulance and pronounced dead at 6.40am. A postmortem found that a wound to her back punctured her lung, according to court reports.

The court heard that Smith and Dransfield had both been involved with Blake Dowling, 18. Prosecutors said Dowling took Dransfield to Smith’s home by taxi and that the two girls had agreed to fight. The prosecution also presented evidence of threats Smith allegedly made before the encounter, including messages and a witness account of a threat to stab Dransfield.

Prosecutor Mark McKone KC told jurors that Smith left a garden summerhouse carrying a knife and stabbed Dransfield. Doorbell footage shown in court captured Smith approaching and calling out to her. The attack itself was...