Social Media Murders S03E03 The Murder of Olly Stephens (4th Jul 2024)
13-year-old Olly Stephens was fatally stabbed just metres from his home. The team exposes the chilling online plot carried out by his young killers and inspired by the glorification of knives and gang culture they found on social media
13-year-old Olly Stephens was fatally stabbed just metres from his home. The team exposes the chilling online plot carried out by his young killers and inspired by the glorification of knives and gang culture they found on social media
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LearningTranscript
00:00Oh, I look fit now.
00:02Literally.
00:04Ooh!
00:06Wait, let's see.
00:08Is it on?
00:26Ambulance, emergency.
00:28Is the patient conscious and breathing?
00:30Yes, he is, but he's been stabbed.
00:32Okay, so he's been stabbed.
00:34Yeah, in the back. He's actually got a chest wound.
00:37Is he bleeding very heavily?
00:39Yes, he is.
00:40How old is he?
00:41He's a teenager.
00:46And you say he's bleeding from his mouth?
00:48He's bleeding from his mouth now,
00:50and I think he's actually going to go into cardiac arrest.
00:53So what we need to do is start on chest compressions.
00:56So we need to go at 1-2, 1-2, 1-2, 1-2.
01:2013-year-old Ollie Stevens strolls to a park in Reading
01:24to meet a girl on a Sunday afternoon.
01:2613 minutes later, he'd be dead.
01:34The door was banged really loudly,
01:37and I saw a boy there that I knew.
01:40But he'd just said, Ollie's been stabbed.
01:45I ran into the field, and as I came through the hedge,
01:49there was somebody doing CPR on him, so I knew it was bad.
01:58Ollie had been stabbed in the chest.
02:01The depth that they penetrated, though, at the front,
02:04we had 9 centimeters, and at the back,
02:07it went in 17 centimeters into Ollie's chest.
02:13He punctured both lungs, and I started begging him,
02:16don't leave me, don't leave me, Ollie.
02:19But the moment I held his hand, I knew he was gone.
02:30A boy has died in violent and distressing circumstances,
02:34and his family and friends have been devastated by his loss.
02:38Ollie was just 13 years old.
02:40His parents were among the first on the scene after the stabbing.
02:44We're thinking, why, why, why, who would do this to Ollie?
02:48Why has this happened?
02:50We needed to know it, because he was ours.
02:55Two boys were waiting in these fields,
02:58one with a knife ready to stab him
03:00over an argument which had played out on social media.
03:03They were able to abuse, plot and murder my son.
03:07It's just pure evil.
03:09Social media is at the heart of what killed Ollie,
03:13and without it, he would still be alive.
03:24Ollie came along on the 1st of November at 21, 21.
03:29He was just a beautiful baby, beautiful-looking baby,
03:33very calm, very easy to look after.
03:37It really was a golden time.
03:40We'd worked hard, we'd got this house, we'd had two children.
03:45His older sister was over the moon to have a baby
03:48to help me look after.
03:53Hold on to him tight.
03:57Oh, hello, Ollie.
04:02Ollie had the traits that an older sibling might have,
04:05whereas I had the traits of a younger sibling.
04:07He was very protective of everyone he cared about,
04:10everyone he loved. He was lovely.
04:12He was a really good brother to me.
04:14Happy birthday to me!
04:19He approached everything head on, feet first,
04:22didn't worry about the consequences.
04:24And for him, life was an adventure.
04:27I kind of describe him as...
04:31..Peter Pan's shadow.
04:33He was always next to me, always wanting to learn.
04:36He was just great to be around.
04:39Hello, guys, and this is my first video.
04:47Ollie got a phone when he was in year six of the last year
04:51at primary school.
04:53We only considered it because he said he'd like to be able
04:56to walk up with a friend to school,
04:58and we wanted to know that he would be safe.
05:02Ollie used to love making little films and clips and things.
05:08You quite quickly realise it's their private world
05:11and they don't want parents involved in it.
05:19He was very funny. You could tell that he had a lot of wit
05:22and he was very quick with it as well.
05:24He always had his phone on him.
05:26He went through a phase where he'd make really stupid videos
05:29and stuff like that. He just wanted to make everyone laugh.
05:34I think what drew me to Ollie is just his character.
05:37Like, he's not someone you meet every day.
05:39He was always just so fun to be around.
05:42People liked him. He was just sort of very out there.
05:45He was very extroverted.
05:47So he sort of got known quite quick for being quite like that.
05:51It didn't seem like he cared what other people thought about him.
05:55I didn't really think anyone could dislike Ollie.
06:10The investigation into this murder by Thames Valley's Major Crime Unit
06:14has been described as fast-paced.
06:17Detectives are out knocking on doors,
06:19collecting as much information and potential video footage as possible
06:23to try to work out who is responsible.
06:30Within minutes of the incident happening,
06:32reports were coming into the news desk of a 13-year-old boy
06:35who had been stabbed in Emmergreen, which is an affluent part of Reading.
06:38As reporters, we were trying to work out what had happened to him.
06:43I needed answers.
06:45I needed to know who was responsible for taking my brother away.
06:49And I posted on my public story.
06:54I was overwhelmed with the response I got from people.
07:10Social media afterwards was, like, crazy.
07:14And there was loads of messages on a group chat.
07:17They were just blowing up my phone.
07:19There was a few of Ollie's friends in there as well.
07:22I remember I screenshotted the messages.
07:24I guess I was just in fight-or-flight mode,
07:26where I was just, like, glued to my phone almost,
07:30going through all these messages
07:34and just trying to collect as much evidence as I could
07:38and get it sent off to the police.
07:43This was a very unusual case from our perspective.
07:46We were taken aback by the amount of digital evidence.
07:50It was probably, from my experience as a senior investigating officer,
07:53an unprecedented investigation in that respect.
07:59What we did see, and obviously which was one of the challenges
08:02in the very early stages of the investigation,
08:04was an awful lot of speculation, a lot of rumour.
08:07It was going out on social media.
08:20Head of Thames Valley Police's Major Crime Unit said,
08:23this remains a very active investigation
08:26and a large scene watch remains in place.
08:29A dog walker we spoke to said she went through the park
08:32at around 3.30pm on Sunday
08:34and saw a group of youth standing round near the woods,
08:37describing the scene as slightly unusual.
08:42We always have a debrief with the police commander on scene.
08:47The discussions were around the fact that potentially
08:52Olly knew the people who had done this.
08:57So quite quickly, all this sadness I'd been feeling
09:00for the last few hours kind of turned into this really powerful anger.
09:04Even though I was being sent a large volume of evidence and things,
09:09it felt like it wasn't enough.
09:12She was glued to it, coming over to me and trying to show me
09:16what she was being sent.
09:18And you've got this feeling of all the children
09:22trying as hard as they could to make sure
09:25that there was going to be justice for Olly.
09:31There was lots of rumours about who had hurt him,
09:34who had stabbed him, and the same names kept coming up.
09:42Jess.
09:45Dan.
09:47And Jack.
10:04The identity of the 13-year-old boy stabbed to death yesterday
10:08on the outskirts of Reading has been released.
10:10He was Oliver Stevens, known as Olly, who lived locally.
10:15Tonight, Thames Valley Police have urged anyone
10:18with any relevant information that might help them
10:21with their inquiries to get in touch.
10:34People were sending me pictures of Dan and Jack,
10:37but I didn't really know what to make of that
10:40because I didn't even know who they were, really.
10:43I'd never seen their faces.
10:45So I was just...
10:49..just very confused and very angry.
10:52Jack was, like, friends with people that I knew.
10:55He just seemed like a very funny person.
10:57I think Dan was a lot more, like, alarming for me.
11:00I think the things I'd heard and things I'd seen, I was like,
11:04I don't know, he just seemed a bit...unhinged.
11:08I don't know if that's the right word.
11:10I got a couple of videos about the two boys.
11:12Things were getting flown around with, you know,
11:15whether the boys were involved or, you know, what their involvement was.
11:19I did know of Jack and Dan previously.
11:23I knew through Olly's friends,
11:25I knew through the conversations I'd had with Olly,
11:29they were on a mission to become gangsters.
11:34Dark clothing, face coverings, balaclavas, hoods up,
11:38just portrayed this image of,
11:41oh, a wannabe gangster is the best way to describe it.
11:51Olly knew he was different
11:53and he told me that back in year six.
11:59He sort of stood out because he was very sociable.
12:03He had such a caring side.
12:05He always wanted to look out for people
12:09and then there was that vulnerable side.
12:13Olly was very self-conscious.
12:16He didn't have a very high opinion of himself
12:19and because he didn't have a high opinion of himself,
12:22he pretty much felt that nobody else did.
12:25You're going to go for the style we discussed.
12:28Yeah. Which is shave the sides.
12:31We shave the sides, I cut my fringe and we, like, style it.
12:34Style it up and back like Chris from Love Island.
12:37Yeah. Excellent.
12:41He started to report back
12:46that he wasn't so settled in class.
12:49He said, I'm finding it hard to focus,
12:52it's hard to know what I need to do.
12:55It took us 14 months in the end
12:57to get Olly's diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder.
13:03In the months leading up to him leaving primary school,
13:07Olly was flagging more and more
13:10that he was very, very worried about going to secondary school.
13:16There was an incident with our daughter.
13:18She was being bullied at school
13:20and they tried to push her down the staircase while somebody filmed it.
13:26We now know that's called patterning.
13:28The whole idea of patterning is that you are humiliated
13:31and it's filmed and then it is shared.
13:35We did involve the police
13:37because we were concerned for her safety at school.
13:40Now, this is all information that Olly would have been aware of,
13:44aged 10 or 11, as he's just about to transition into secondary school.
13:50That really scared him because he thought,
13:52if my older sister is getting picked on,
13:54then who can I have to protect me?
13:57And I think that's what maybe led to him seeking out older boys as protection
14:04because then he knew he'd be equipped to go to secondary school
14:07and he knew that he would be protected.
14:09He had a genuine fear
14:11and I think that maybe befriending some older characters
14:14that maybe were kind of known to be characters you don't mess with
14:18meant that if he was close to them, that he would be untouchable.
14:25He made a few friends on social media
14:28but really he had made these associations with, like, dangerous people.
14:39I think he was looking for people that would give him an image
14:42that, you know, people wouldn't want to mess with.
14:47He wasn't really Olly, like, he was just a little sweet little soul
14:51and then he just, I don't know, he just kind of changed.
15:00And I think without realising he just mirrored that
15:02and copied what they were doing.
15:05So I would be quite shocked and surprised
15:07that some stuff he would post sometimes
15:09because I thought, that is just not Olly.
15:12It was scary because he was so young,
15:15so easily influenced.
15:18He had never thought about the dangers or the harm
15:21and he had just got pulled in.
15:23I think one time he had, like, a...
15:25I think it might have been a balaclava or something
15:27and I just said to him, like, are you for real?
15:29Like, how did you even get that? You look ridiculous.
15:33He was just, I don't know, sort of getting, like, brainwashed.
15:45Teenagers aged 13 and 14 had been arrested
15:48after a 13-year-old boy was stamped to death in Reading.
15:54Jack handed himself in at a local police station.
15:57It was at this point that he admitted to manslaughter.
16:00Police then visited Jess's house and arrested her.
16:04Officers were able to speak to the younger boy, Dan,
16:07and later arrest him as well.
16:16MUSIC PLAYS
16:23Olly got his bike in the Christmas of his 12th year,
16:26so his 12th birthday.
16:28Olly was so excited when he got that bike.
16:31It just looked... It did look really cool.
16:33Olly was very good at wheelies.
16:35It was quite impressive, to be fair.
16:37Because he was younger as well.
16:39I think he was a very talented person.
16:41He could, like, pick stuff up.
16:43We used to go out quite a lot.
16:45I mean, just film each other, have a good laugh.
16:50I can remember seeing him ride past and I felt really proud of him
16:53because he was going out exploring the world.
16:55He would just go out on his bike
16:57and we wouldn't know where he's going or who he was seeing.
17:02Olly said, can I go out now?
17:04He used to want to go out about three
17:06when it was the end of the school time and he could go out.
17:09And I'd finished work and I said, OK.
17:13And I thought he'd just be local.
17:15I looked at the phone
17:18and I thought, I'll just check his location.
17:20And it was moving very fast.
17:27I thought, my God, he's on a train.
17:33At this point, I could see he's arrived in Paddington
17:37and then I thought, well, your phone's died
17:40or you've turned your location off
17:42because I couldn't see where he was anymore.
17:45A worrying period went by where we didn't have contact with him
17:49and then we can see he's on the locator coming back to Reading.
17:56When I picked him up from the station,
17:58it was as if nothing had happened.
18:00I asked him what had gone on
18:02and he just looked at me and said,
18:05snitches get stitches, Dad.
18:11SIREN WAILS
18:15Officers this afternoon confirmed the police have been given extra time
18:19to question a 13-year-old girl, a 13-year-old boy and a 14-year-old boy
18:23before they're either charged or released.
18:29When the police went through all of the devices and phones that they seized,
18:33they were really shocked by what they discovered.
18:35There were thousands of messages, videos and images
18:38that helped them to piece together their investigation.
18:41What we've found in terms of how social media is being used
18:45to share images of weapons and violence,
18:48these virtual relationships, almost this virtual life,
18:51this online life, this second sort of identity...
18:56Because I was going to set him up, innit?
18:58If he comes to you, I promise you I'm poking a knack through his head.
19:09SIREN WAILS
19:12It was near the end of June,
19:14Ollie appears at our front door with his auntie
19:19and she said,
19:21Ollie called us because his bike's been stolen
19:24and he was scared to tell you.
19:28He said to her that he had gone to meet his friends,
19:31and I use this term very loosely, friends.
19:34They'd offered to buy him a drink.
19:36He'd left his bike outside and they had left their e-scooter.
19:41Ollie comes out of the shop, his bike's gone, he's devastated.
19:46He was very upset and I went in to chat with him and then the phone rang
19:50and it was this Jack on the phone saying,
19:52you know, I'm your friend, I can get your bike back,
19:55you just have to bring me the money to a certain place.
19:58And I think in that split second, Ollie realised that this could be dangerous
20:01and he gave me the phone and I just sort of said to him,
20:04you stay away from my child.
20:06And before I'd finished the sentence, he'd hung up and he was gone.
20:09My alarm bells were going off cos it just didn't sound right at all
20:12and I said, why do they want you to turn up to collect the bike?
20:17And he said cos they want to stab me as a punishment.
20:20That's the way it works.
20:22Didn't really comprehend what I was hearing, it was just...
20:25We were talking about 12-year-olds stabbing each other.
20:28Obviously, I just felt sick
20:31because what had he got himself involved with?
20:37And then I get contacted by Ollie's auntie.
20:45And she admits that Ollie says to her that he's been in a gang
20:51and he was recruited to go to London.
20:55That was just horrific.
21:01I was worried for Ollie's safety and I was worried for our family's safety.
21:06So we start the whole process with the police,
21:09registering it as a stolen bike, giving the serial number, telling them where.
21:14The police are then looking into, is there CCTV?
21:20Due to safeguarding, moved up a level and Ollie got a social worker.
21:25And Forrest was a godsend to us.
21:29The referral came in to me late 2020.
21:32There were some concerns over possible criminal exploitation.
21:37When I went into Ollie's home, I thought to myself,
21:42why are you getting involved with your bike being stolen
21:47or there's a suspicion of criminal exploitation
21:50and you're living in this context?
21:53From what I could see, you're in a comfortable environment,
21:56a secure neighbourhood, loving parents, both mum and dad are present.
22:03And as Ollie began to talk to me about some of the things he was involved in,
22:08some of the people that he had been introduced to,
22:12he was worried about telling his parents.
22:15He felt he would jeopardise his family
22:17because he felt that these people had, as he would say,
22:20they've got a reputation, Forrest, they've got a reputation.
22:26When a gang wants to bring someone into their clutches,
22:34they're going to groom the individual.
22:36It could be just doing favours for them,
22:38protecting anyone troubling you, we'll take care of it.
22:41So you feel confident and secure and accepted
22:45and then the gang will ask you to do favours for them
22:48because, come on now, you owe us now.
22:50And so the young person will feel obliged
22:54to actually do the favour.
22:58Ollie shared with me the truth in terms of having to go to London.
23:03The Reading gang had given him some money
23:07to go on the train and purchase a machete from an individual.
23:15Ollie met the adult male,
23:21took out the money to give and get the machete.
23:24The person took the money, punched him in the face and disappeared.
23:29I said to Ollie,
23:31Ollie, that sounds like a set-up.
23:34That sounds like the person who took the money
23:37was part of the same gang.
23:41It's a tactic that gangs use.
23:45You've lost our money and you haven't brought back our goods.
23:49You owe us some money.
23:51You are indebted to us.
23:57Because he thought those people were his friends,
24:00he wanted to stay loyal to his friends and this is one of his traits.
24:03He hadn't realised that he was in danger.
24:07I now look back on that time and feel so awful
24:11because I thought we were protecting him
24:13but there was another level of almost how much protection he needed.
24:18I just... I don't know how we ever got to this situation.
24:23Why as a family? A lovely family.
24:28He was vulnerable and he was exploited.
24:33We wanted him out of there.
24:35So we pulled him away and he pulled away from them.
24:40I felt assured on my last visit that he was in a safe place.
24:45I brought the completed assessments and, for some strange reason,
24:50I just felt propelled to say things to him like,
24:54Oli, if trouble comes your way, I said, just run.
25:00OK, well, I'll go to college. I'll leave my yard in ten minutes.
25:05I'll bring a shepherd with you.
25:07Fam, this is to hated DZ1. I'm going to kill him.
25:16The three teenagers, aged just 13 and 14,
25:19arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of 13-year-old Oli Stephens,
25:23have all been charged with murder.
25:25They're expected to appear in Reading Crown Court in June.
25:29You know, once we kept him in from June, he was in.
25:33You know, the whole time I was there, he was in.
25:36He was in for a little while.
25:38He didn't want to come out of there.
25:40He didn't want to talk about it.
25:42He didn't want to talk about it.
25:44He was in for a little while.
25:46And he didn't want to come out of there.
25:48It was the worst thing that could have happened to him.
25:51He was in.
25:52He was in for a while.
25:54Once we'd kept him in from June, he was in, you know, the majority of the time.
25:59Ollie's world was this house.
26:02I was always monitoring what Ollie was doing on his phone from afar, really.
26:06You know, if he was on his phone for a long time, I would walk in and say,
26:09oh, what are you doing?
26:10This thing was on his phone, I said, what's that all about?
26:13And it was gone before, you know, I could follow it up.
26:16I said, well, yeah, tell me what that's all about.
26:18And he just wouldn't go into it, wouldn't tell me.
26:21Ollie was part of a group with these two boys, Jack and Dan.
26:24There was a video of a young boy being patterned or humiliated.
26:29You can just see him get a slap and you see him getting punched.
26:33And he's being told to say something, he has to apologise.
26:37What we know now is that Ollie saw this video
26:40and that Jack and Dan posted laughing emojis.
26:44And Ollie, of course, would be appalled.
26:46Ollie had asked me a question, which, when I looked back,
26:48was probably the pivotal point.
26:50He said to me, you know, if you knew somebody was being bullied,
26:54would you tell the family?
26:57I said, well, if it was happening to your sister,
27:01would you want to know?
27:02And he said, yes, I would.
27:06Ollie knows who this boy's older brother is, so he sends it to him.
27:09But, of course, Jack and Dan, they're then furious with Ollie,
27:14absolutely furious, he's a snake, he's a snitch, he's a grass.
27:18He was just a very protective, loving person.
27:21He only did it because he cares.
27:23Like, he didn't do it to, you know, be a big man or anything.
27:27He stuck by his morals and he kept loyal to himself.
27:29From him sharing that video to the correct people,
27:33just doing what he thinks is right.
27:35Ollie was very fearless.
27:36Like, I don't think he really kind of sensed the dangers and things.
27:40He was always so willing to, like, stand up for his friends.
27:44And I don't think he realised how bad things could be.
27:48Jack and Dan decided that they were going to seek their revenge
27:51on Ollie, and that coincided with the argument
27:55that Ollie had had with this Jess.
28:00Ollie had known Jess for a while.
28:02She'd been in and out of her house.
28:04She wouldn't speak to us, she wouldn't look us in the eye,
28:06but, you know, Ollie spent time with her.
28:09From what I knew of Jess, I think she was able to have a hold on people
28:14and she was able to manipulate those people around her very easily.
28:20He'd always stand up for her.
28:22Even if I was saying something that was true,
28:25he'd always see the good parts in someone.
28:29They'd had a falling out.
28:31Only time I've ever seen him angry.
28:34And that's when I really sort of put two and two together.
28:37She's not healthy for him, she's toxic.
28:41The only reason he walked to that field,
28:43because he wanted to make things right.
28:44He wanted to patch it up with her.
28:55What we know now is that this was an opportunity
28:58for her to get back at Ollie, but also for the boys to get even.
29:02So it was a perfect storm, really.
29:08Ollie texted me randomly yesterday and was like,
29:22oh, do you want some cigarettes?
29:24And I was like, yeah, because Jack wants me to set him up.
29:28So Jack is going to go bang him and pat him and shit.
29:31I'm so excited, you don't understand.
29:38Jack and Dan met at Cemetery Junction in East Reading
29:44before they made their way to Bugs Bottom Park in Emmergreen.
29:48It's here that they met Jess,
29:52where they were to then go and approach Ollie
29:55at the top of Bugs Bottom Park.
30:08Ollie just suddenly said, oh, he was going to meet Jess.
30:12And then he started to get ready and he seemed in a good mood.
30:16And I said to him, oh, you're ever so handsome, you know?
30:20And I remember him just sort of looking at me
30:23and his hair was quite long with the perm,
30:24then he sort of like lifted it to look.
30:27And he said, take a picture then.
30:30And I said, what do you mean, take a picture?
30:32I said, I've got my phone with me.
30:34And he said, oh, you've got your phone with you.
30:36And I said, what do you mean, take a picture?
30:37I said, I've got my phone with me.
30:39And he said, a mental picture.
30:43And we had that moment and it was really precious.
30:58Alarm bells should have rung because I looked down the road
31:01and usually Jess was dropped off by her mum,
31:03but her mum's car wasn't there.
31:06I think I might have even said that to Ollie
31:07and he said, oh, I'm meeting her in there, pointing to Bugs Bottom.
31:12And he gets to the door, he goes, I'll put my location on.
31:14I said, all good.
31:15OK.
31:17And he said, love you.
31:20And I said, love you.
31:22That night in Bugs Bottom
31:23his twin brother Jack and Dan managed to take Ollie down.
31:34At the top of the hill, the boys, Jack and Dan,
31:37as well as Jess, ambushed Ollie.
31:42Ollie was able to kind of hold his own.
31:44At that point he was fighting back
31:46and got the upper hand in the fight.
31:48But then the younger boy pulled out his knife and it was at that point in the ensuing seconds that Ollie was stabbed.
32:01The boys and Jess departed down the hill.
32:04A passerby had seen what had happened and called 999.
32:09Ambulance emergency, patient conscious and breathing.
32:12Yes he is, but he's been stabbed.
32:14OK, so he's been stabbed?
32:15Yeah, in the back, he's actually got a chest wound.
32:19Is he bleeding very heavily?
32:21Yes he is.
32:22How old is he?
32:23He's a teenager.
32:25And you say he's bleeding from his mouth?
32:27He's bleeding from his mouth now and I think he's actually going to go into cardiac arrest.
32:38There was a knock on the door and then I heard a man scream,
32:42what do you mean he's been stabbed?
32:44So immediately I flew down the stairs.
32:47And I was quickly just trying to put my trainers on as fast as I could.
32:52Bearing in mind this is only 200 yards from my house,
32:55I ran into the field and as I came through the hedge,
32:59I looked up at the field to where he was and there was somebody doing CPR on him,
33:07but it was all the faces of the people and you could just see the horror on their faces.
33:14The incident came through on my pager.
33:17I travelled on emergency conditions to the location.
33:20There was a lot of activity, a lot of police cars, lots of ambulances,
33:24many of them with blue lights on, so I knew it was a critical case.
33:30The body cam footage really takes you back to the scene.
33:33It gives the police a record of how things were when they arrived,
33:37and exactly what people said.
33:45It's not very clear, but you can see the effort that the nurse was putting in.
33:49It's a distressing much.
33:51I am a cardiac nurse as well, which is why...
33:54So he's had some proper, complete chest compressions from me.
34:01I just remember running over and I saw my dad, he was just like waving his hands.
34:06And I thought he was smiling.
34:08I thought that it was maybe just been a lie.
34:11But as I got closer to him, I was just seeing that he was actually just hysterically crying.
34:20That was the moment where it hit me that Ollie was potentially dead.
34:31I got to my knees and got hold of his hand, and I started begging him,
34:35don't leave me, don't leave me, Ollie.
34:39And I said, they've actually done it, they've actually killed him.
34:44He landed, an ambulance, air ambulance, right next to him in the field.
34:48The surgeon came over and I think they performed open chest surgery on him
34:54to try and keep his heart going.
34:59A lady came across and she introduced herself.
35:02She was the doctor, she was the surgeon who'd been flown in,
35:05and she just said, I'm so sorry.
35:12We were invited into the ambulance to say goodbye, but we couldn't go near him
35:15because you're contaminating a crime scene, and my son was a crime scene.
35:21And I just said, I'm so sorry, Ollie.
35:24I'm so sad that this has happened to you. I love you.
35:28We came out of the ambulance and the doors closed,
35:31and we just stood there and hugged each other.
35:46Just Jack and Dan all tried to delete messages from their phones,
35:50from their social media apps, after Ollie was stabbed.
36:05I think they thought that they probably had a gun,
36:08that they probably had a gun, that they probably had a gun,
36:11that they probably had a gun,
36:13I think they thought that they probably thought they could maybe get away with this
36:17if police couldn't find their messages.
36:19I just felt really angry,
36:21and I'd kind of pieced together that Jess had set him up,
36:25because he was going to the field with the intention of seeing her.
36:29I just messaged her.
36:43The way she was speaking to me, it's like she hadn't had anything to do with it.
36:48I even questioned if it was her fault or not.
36:51The policeman arrived and he just said,
36:54your son, why was he here?
36:56And I said, he came to meet Jess.
36:58And he said, is Jess here?
37:00And I said, no, Jess isn't here.
37:02He said, we need to speak to Jess.
37:13The trial begins today into the murder of Ollie Stephens,
37:17a schoolboy from Reading who was stabbed to death in January.
37:20A 13-year-old boy and a 14-year-old boy,
37:23who both can't be named because of their ages,
37:25appeared in court this morning,
37:27charged with murder and conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm.
37:32We never saw Jess,
37:34because we didn't know what she was doing.
37:37We didn't know what she was doing.
37:39We never saw Jess,
37:41because her legal team had put in a plea of manslaughter
37:45and admitted to deleting data and apps.
37:51We felt we had to sit through all of it,
37:54because I wanted to understand every single item
37:58of why we were in that room that day.
38:01We wanted to know everything,
38:03however painful it was, we needed to know it.
38:06But nothing could have prepared us for how it felt
38:09to sit in a court environment, really in silence,
38:14and see the two defendants come in.
38:21Jack's dad would always go to hug him
38:27when he came in in the morning.
38:30You'd see him and he'd go up and they'd give the biggest of hugs.
38:35And in your heart you're just screaming,
38:38we can never hug Ollie again.
38:44Part of the defence case of the boys was that
38:47they said, we thought that Ollie might attack us.
38:50You're thinking all the time,
38:52what will the jury think about that?
38:55What they were portraying in court,
38:57they were good boys,
38:59one of them was a grade A student,
39:01never hurt anybody,
39:02couldn't have been further from the truth.
39:05The jury here at Reading Crown Court
39:08were told by the prosecution today
39:10that the attack had been planned by the defendants
39:13in the days leading up to it,
39:15and was motivated by perceived grievances with Ollie.
39:18Two boys, both now 14, were waiting in these fields,
39:21one with a knife ready to stab him
39:24over an argument which had played out on social media.
39:29The evidence that was shown in court
39:32a lot of it was videos that were obtained
39:35from both defendants' phones
39:37of them holding and playing with knives.
39:39There were voice messages which showed them
39:42bragging almost about what had happened.
39:45The older boy said to the younger boy,
39:48bring the knife.
39:50He said it.
39:57What happened was that
40:00the younger boy,
40:02the older boy said,
40:04bring the knife.
40:06The younger boy said,
40:08bring the knife.
40:10The older boy said,
40:11bring the knife.
40:13What happened was
40:15Jack
40:17fighting Ollie.
40:19He said himself,
40:21Ollie was coming off better.
40:23And
40:25then that led to
40:27Dan
40:29stabbing him twice.
40:31The two of them at one point,
40:33one was fighting Ollie
40:36and the other was reaching over and stabbing him.
40:39They did it together.
40:51I think the jury were out for
40:56I think that was going to be the fifth day
40:59when they actually came back right at the eleventh hour
41:02and said
41:04that there was a decision.
41:08Honestly, my legs just went to jelly.
41:10But we took our seats.
41:13And when they said
41:15guilty.
41:21It feels like the floor just gives way
41:24and the pit of your stomach just goes
41:27and it just went quiet.
41:29And I had Ollie's rugby shirt with me
41:32and I just buried my head in his rugby shirt for a minute
41:34because it was just
41:36it was just such a
41:38powerful moment.
41:42There's no sense of victory in this because
41:45everybody's lives have been shattered.
41:48Jess received an initial sentence of three years and two months for manslaughter.
41:52However, this was then extended on appeal to five years in custody.
41:56The verdicts found Jack and Dan guilty of murder.
42:00Dan received a sentence of 13 years minimum.
42:03The older boy, Jack, received a minimum sentence of 12 years in custody.
42:07The word shocking has been used on many occasions
42:10in connection with the circumstances of Ollie's death
42:13and quite rightly, it is the right word.
42:15And I think as a society, as a community, we should be shocked.
42:20The fact that
42:22some of them posed online
42:24with knives
42:26and they covered their faces
42:28tells me
42:30that they knew right from wrong.
42:32But the influence
42:33of maintaining a particular profile
42:36on social media
42:38prevented them
42:40from saying, do you know what?
42:42What we're about to do
42:44is dangerous, we're not doing it.
42:49I believe social media
42:51played its role in Ollie's death.
42:53No, they didn't hold the knife,
42:55but they allowed these children to communicate
42:57and we need to hold these companies accountable
42:59for the platforms
43:00with which they are enabling people
43:02to harm each other.
43:04We joined a group,
43:06the bereaved parents for online safety
43:08and I'm sure a lot of them feel
43:10that same feeling of guilt that we feel
43:12of we should have been able to save and protect Ollie.
43:17We've been up to the House of Commons many times.
43:21Well, Mr Speaker, I'm very sorry to hear
43:24about the case that the honourable gentleman raises.
43:26My thoughts are with Ollie's family.
43:28He's absolutely right that we should do everything we can
43:30to tackle the scourge of knife crime.
43:33They just want to help other parents
43:36recognise the dangers of social media
43:39and what's happened to Ollie
43:41and that it could happen to anyone.
43:49Happy birthday to me!
43:55Like, Ollie was just...
43:57words can't describe
43:58how just lovely he was
44:00and I think that's how I want him to be remembered,
44:02not this front he put up
44:04for, you know, social media
44:06and his friends.
44:10I found this the other day.
44:12He said,
44:14when I grow up,
44:16I want to be happy
44:18and my message to my friends
44:20is be happy.
44:22Life's too short to be sad.
44:25He was always caring
44:26always loving
44:28always looking after other people.
44:30Even though he had his own struggles,
44:33he just seemed to connect with people.
44:35He had a great empathy for people.
44:37He was a special kid
44:39and, you know, we loved that about him.
44:41It was amazing that he was like that.
44:44The Online Safety Act
44:46is definitely part of Ollie's legacy
44:49and it is that feeling of
44:51he will be remembered for
44:53what he was all about
44:54which was
44:56protecting other children
44:59and caring
45:01and that feeling of kindness.
45:24For more information, visit www.FEMA.gov