Southport murders-obsessed loner jailed for 30 years for knifing girl, 9

A loner who was inspired by the to stab a nine-year-old girl as she played outside his home was today jailed for 30 years.

Jordan Wilkes, 29, had an "unhealthy fascination" with child murders and had previously left an eight-year-old boy unconscious in a brutal attack. Last August - three weeks after the killings of three girls at a dance class in Southport - he sought to fulfil his "sick fantasy".

He went online to search for children's dance classes in his area with thoughts of carrying out a chilling copycat of Southport. He watched clips about Southport and videos and podcasts relating to the murder of toddler .

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He also viewed videos on American high school massacres. On August 20 last year his victim was playing with a friend on the stairwell of the block of flats where Wilkes lived in Christchurch, Dorset. He came out of his home armed with a penknife and, without saying a word, grabbed hold of the girl and stabbed her three times in the neck, shoulder and knee. Luckily, both girls were able to get away and fled to the safety of another flat.

Police found the knife Wilkes used in his bedside table and a clump of the girl’s hair in a piece of folded paper in the kitchen bin. The wounds to the girl's shoulder and knee were so deep the bone could be seen. The shoulder wound narrowly missed her major blood vessels which, if cut, would have bled catastrophically and resulted in death.

A forensic pathologist said the chest wound would have likely resulted in serious injury or death had it damaged any of the underlying area. While the girl, who can't be named for legal reasons, was able to recover she is scarred for life.

Her mother said has also been left traumatised by the violent attack on her. She described how her daughter used to be a "bubbly, happy carefree child" who loved her independence but now struggled to leave the house without her parents.

She suffers from "relentless nightmares of somebody breaking into her home and murdering her and her family" and has recurring thoughts of the "wicked attack on her by that man". Her mum said that last Hallowe'en, which was once a favourite time of year for her daughter, brought back painful memories due to the fake blood on other children.

She said: "That free-spirited girl is no more, she has not been the same child since the stabbing. She is a continuous victim of various challenges of which no child should ever endure and no parent should witness. Her whole freedom has been stripped from her. The mental scars [she] has been left with will never leave."

Wilkes denied attempted murder but a jury found him guilty last month. Today Judge William Mousley called Wilkes a "dangerous offender" who posed a high risk to children and jailed him for 30 years with five years on licence when released.

Berenice Mulvanny, prosecuting, said there had been a worrying escalation in Wilkes' behaviour towards children in his adult life. She in 2016 said was convicted of ABH against the eight-year-old boy who he subjected to an "entirely unprovoked and brutal attack".

Just like the girl, the boy and friends had been playing on a bin outside his block of flats. She said: "He punched the victim, grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him off the bin to the ground before punching and kicking him."

At one point the boy lost consciousness and Wilkes was seen stamping on his face while he was on the ground before he was pulled off him by the father of one of the boy's friends. She also told the court there had been two other incidents involving Wilkes but which did not lead to criminal convictions.

In 2020 he set a pram outside the block of flats alight and in 2022 police were called when he was shouting and swearing at another resident's child. The court also heard police recovered at least six other knives from the property including some in "strange places".

Ms Mulvanny said: "This is clearly an escalation in seriousness from that previous matter." She said Wilkes had an "unhealthy fascination with the murder of children and saw his opportunity to fulfil some sort of sick fantasy". At 1.25am on August 20, the day Wilkes attacked the girl, he watched a video about the case of Aiden Fucci, who murdered a 13-year-old schoolgirl by stabbing her 114 times in America.

She said later that day the two girls were playing in the stairwell of the block of flats. She said: "He came out of the flat. He didn't say anything, but grabbed hold of her arm then struck her with the knife three times, once to the top of the neck by the jaw line, once to the shoulder and once to the side of her knee."

Giving evidence, the girl said of the attack: "I saw him reach into his pocket, I didn't know that it was a knife, he hid it with his arm behind him then he came at us. He came running at me with a straight face. He grabbed hold of my arm, really tight, so I couldn't escape and he was aiming for this area [pointing to her neck]."

Her friend described Wilkes as "mad-looking". Nick Robinson, defending, said Wilkes had a low IQ of 72 and features of autism spectrum disorder and had experienced "constant bullying" as a child that continued into adult life.

He said his difficulties meant it was hard for him to maintain a job and led to him being isolated. He said: "In reality he spent his days by himself, withdrawn from mainstream society, taking refuge in the internet. He is a vulnerable young man, 29 but mentally and emotionally he is someone who presents much younger."

In sentencing, Judge Mousley said: "You are a dangerous offender and there is a significant risk of you causing serious harm in the future to others. You had an interest in child killing and decided to try to carry it out yourself. The injuries were not as serious as they could have been and you did not persist by going after either child once they had got away.

"The conduct of two brave little girls and their families has been quite remarkable in the light of the ordeal that they have been through. There are clearly difficult times ahead for all those affected by this shocking crime. I hope that things will improve and [the victim] in particular will in time come to terms will it."

In a statement read out after the sentencing, the girl's parents praised their daughter for her "resilience, bravery, endurance, strength, power and determination". They said: "We are extremely fortunate, beyond words and feelings, to still have our little girl with us today.

"Our little girl did not have a choice on the 20 August. Together we did not choose to experience this trauma and did not choose what we will endure for the rest of our lives.

"We must, because of the choice a heinous and disturbing fanatic of monstrous proportion, who chose an innocent and vulnerable little girl as his victim, subsequently plunging our family into a living nightmare. Given the severity of her injuries, our little girl will experience further challenges and difficulties for the rest of her life.

"Justice has been delivered today and knowing this person's liberties have been withdrawn and children in our community are now safe from him we can close out this chapter. We are hugely grateful to the 12 members from society who saw through any defence and unanimously delivered a guilty verdict and gave our family and the community the opportunity to see today's results."

Afterwards Det Chief Insp Aimee Schock, of , said: “This was a horrific knife attack on a defenceless young girl that could easily have had fatal consequences. I want to thank the young victim in this case and her friend for the courage they have shown in giving evidence and helping to build a case against Jordan Wilkes, which ultimately led to his conviction for attempted murder.

"Thanks to the swift response of the emergency services to this shocking incident, we were not only able to quickly provide immediate first aid to the young girl for her injuries but also arrested the defendant shortly after his violent attack."

Kelly Newman, the senior prosecutor with CPS Wessex, said: "This attack represents every parent's worst nightmare – believing their child is innocently and safely playing, only to be targeted in such a horrific manner. We have been moved by the bravery of the victim and her friend throughout this process. We hope that they can begin to heal from such a terrifying ordeal. The CPS, working closely with our criminal justice partners, remains committed to building robust cases and securing justice for victims."