Teenager found guilty of murdering Harry Pitman at New Year’s Eve event
A teenager has been found guilty of fatally stabbing 16-year-old Harry Pitman at a fireworks event on New Year’s Eve.
Described as “lively and loud”, Pitman was play fighting before he was attacked by Areece Lloyd-Hall in Primrose Hill, north London, on December 31, 2023.
The incident occurred in front of a crowd of revelers who had gathered to watch fireworks over the River Thames.
Lloyd-Hall, now 18, pushed forward and lunged at Harry with a pointed dagger, just meters away from where uniformed police officers were stationed.
“Shocking” mobile phone footage shown in court showed a knife sheath flying through the air during the fast-moving incident.
Harry clutches his neck, his white T-shirt covered in blood, as he walks through the crowd calling for police officers for “help.”
Minutes later, shortly before midnight, he collapsed and died.
University student Lloyd-Hall, who was 16 at the time, claimed he thought he was only hitting Harry with the holster in an attempt to get Harry away from him.
He said: “I didn’t want him to lose his life.
“I feel so bad about what happened. It wasn’t my intention.”
He said he ran away without realizing what was happening because he had a knife in his hand and knew there were police officers nearby.
Jurors were told Lloyd-Hall suffered from cannabis-induced paranoia and may have been suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, triggered by witnessing an earlier stabbing in June 2023 following the stabbing death of a friend.
Following a retrial at the Old Bailey, Lloyd-Hall, of Westminster, was found guilty of murder by a majority of 11 to one after the jury deliberated for nearly eight hours.
At the trial in October last year the jury found Lloyd-Hall guilty of possessing an offensive weapon but could not agree on the other charges; can now be reported.
There were gasps from Harry’s family sitting in court as Lloyd-Hall was found guilty of murder.
The teenager will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on November 10.
Prosecutor Jocelyn Ledward KC explained at her retrial that “compassion turned into tragedy in the blink of an eye” on New Year’s Eve 2023.
Harry and Lloyd-Hall were strangers to each other and had gone to watch the fireworks with different groups of friends.
Earlier in the evening, special constable David Smith said Harry appeared excited and “physically jumped towards him” for a friendly chat.
He proceeded to “fist bump” with another man who had gone to watch the fireworks with his family.
The fatal incident is understood to have stemmed from a fight between Harry and one of the defendant’s friends shortly after 11.30pm.
While fighting, Harry saw how high he could kick, so he lost his balance and crashed into the boy standing behind.
In response Harry was pushed and slapped on the back of the head, causing him to say: “Don’t touch me, because I didn’t touch you.”
Lloyd-Hall advanced towards Harry, holding his trousers, and said: “Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.”
In the mobile phone footage, a girl is seen warning the word “mindi”, which means knife in Somali, while the defendant pulls a knife from his waist.
Harry can be seen shaking his fist before Lloyd-Hall swings the knife in an arc upwards and towards Harry’s neck.
Police body-worn camera footage shows Harry making his way through the crowd, seeking help, before collapsing.
The defendant threw away his knife, clothes and mobile phone and ran away.
It was determined that the sheath of the knife was left at the scene and the defendant’s DNA was found on it.
Following media objection, Lloyd-Hall went to Hammersmith police station with his father on 4 January 2024.
The court said that the defendant had no previous criminal record and was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
