A 14-year-old boy stabbed his ex-girlfriend multiple times in a shop after becoming obsessed with her following their break-up.
The teenager created fake social media accounts to contact the girl, also 14, after she rejected his advances.
He later waited near a shop in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, before following her inside with a kitchen knife hidden in his jeans.
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Horrifying CCTV captured the boy walking slowly towards his ex before launching what police described as a “frenzied attack”.
The boy, from Wiltshire, pleaded guilty to wounding with intent, inflicting grievous bodily harm without intent and possession of a bladed article in a public place.
He appeared at Bristol Crown Court, sitting as a youth court, on Monday (21 September) and was handed a 12-month referral order and a three-year restraining order, as reported by Need To Know.
The court heard the teenagers had briefly dated before the girl ended their relationship in December 2025.
The boy then began using fake social media profiles to send her messages.
On 15 March, he spotted the girl entering a shop to buy a drink at around 11:15am and followed her inside.
He grabbed her and repeatedly stabbed her with the kitchen knife.
The shopkeeper tried to intervene but was also struck in the back with the blade.
The girl managed to escape and raise the alarm at a neighbouring property.
She suffered cuts to her neck, hands and face and bruising to her back, while the shopkeeper suffered a cut to his back.
The boy fled but was found by police nearby with the knife still in his jeans pocket.
He also had a fresh cut to his hand.
In a Victim Personal Statement read to the court, the girl said: “I’m scared and nervous anywhere that I go.
“Even if someone puts their hand up next to me I flinch as I don’t know what they are about to do to me.
“I was in so much shock after it happened.
“I didn’t leave the house for a couple of days. I never thought something like this would ever happen to me, or anyone I know at all.
“I’ve been having nightmares since; I relive the incident, but in these dreams it happens in different places.
“I sleep in the dark but when I wake, I constantly feel like there is a presence in the room.
“I can’t stop thinking about it.
“This is going to affect my ability to trust people.
“I don’t want to be outside on my own.
“I shouldn’t have to feel like this as a teenager in my own area.”
Gloucestershire Police Detective Superintendent Ian Fletcher said: “This was a frenzied attack that took place in broad daylight.
“The victim was stabbed multiple times with a knife and has been very, very lucky to get away with only minor injuries.
“We could easily have been looking at a fatal incident if that knife had pierced her anywhere else.
“My hope now is that the victim is able to move on from these deeply traumatic events and start to rebuild her life again.”
Fletcher said CCTV showed the boy walking “horrifyingly slowly” towards the girl before attacking her.
He said the footage showed more than 10 attempts to stab her and described it as “absolutely horrifying” to watch.
The detective also praised the shopkeeper for acting “very bravely” by intervening and helping the girl escape.
He added: “What is unusual in this case is that it’s a 14-year-old child that has had this obsessive behaviour.
“It’s the type of thing we’d see in domestic violence cases with adults, but it’s not something we would have normally seen when it comes to child offenders.”
The boy cannot be named for legal reasons.
Sentencing him, Judge Ian Lawrie described the stabbing as a “very troubling event” but said he did not consider the boy to be a “danger”.
He said: “He’s still young.
“And he is capable of learning.”
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