A UK court has given a life sentence to a 17-year-old boy who stabbed a disabled teenage girl at least 99 times before leaving her alone to die in Sittingbourne, Kent in July last year. The girl survived the serious injuries and has returned to school.

The boy was sentenced to life by Maidstone Crown Court on Friday after he pleaded guilty to attempted murder. He will have to serve at least 10 years in prison before parole can be considered.

The boy, who cannot be named due to legal reasons, was 16 years old at the time of the crime. The girl was later discovered by a dog walker at 07:30 BST on 22 July.

He had befriended the victim on the social media app Snapchat and insisted on meeting her. "We say he lured her to the orchard in order to carry out a premeditated attack," said Prosecutor Martin Yale.

The prosecutor said the attacker made an excuse to use the toilet and disappeared for a while. He later returned and grabbed the victim's mouth and started stabbing his 16-year-old victim frantically.

The girl was initially thought to have sustained 60 stab wounds but a pathologist later reviewed the case and said that she had at least 99 wounds. She was likely to have been lying there for at least seven hours before she was finally airlifted to King's College Hospital in London.

A report in The Mirror said that the attacker had been researching US serial killer Ted Bundy before he committed the crime. The detectives later found out that he had also been searching online "how to kill with a knife." He had even googled if Britain still had death penalty after carrying out the crime.

He has been diagnosed with autism and a comorbid depressive disorder. His parents had even contacted social services after he expressed the desire to kill himself.

Judge Philip Statman, while announcing the sentence, praised the girl for her bravery and said: "She fought for her life and she won."

Cemetery crime scene
Representation. Photo: Pixabay
UK crime