A nineteen year old from Frome has been sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 21 years, for the murder of 16 year old Charley Bates in Radstock last summer.

Joshua Delbono was told that the killing had cast a horrible shadow over everyone who was there at the car park behind the library in Radstock on July 31 2022, when he stabbed Charley to death as he was backing away.

The judge William Hart, took into consideration Delbono's age at the time of the stabbing, which happened when he was 18, but added while he may have stayed to help Charley when he lay dying on the ground, he made good his escape.

Delbono had pleaded not guilty to murder but was found guilty by a jury a Bristol Crown Court today (April 11).

The family of Charley, known as Char, gave powerful and emotional witness statements before the sentencing, talking about how the family still kept their son's hair gel and toothbrush in place as they still struggle to come to terms with the fact he is dead. His older sister said that it was a tragic needless loss and Char had so much more to give when he was taken from them in a cruel act of violence.

The two week long trial heard that Charley, who was due to take up a college course after that summer, died from an unsurvivable single stab to his heart and in spite of his friends, and then police and medics trying to save him, he died in minutes.

Charley's father told Bristol Crown Court that hundreds of hearts were broken that day, while his mum thanked his friends for trying to save her son's life. As those in the court struggled to keep their emotions in check, she told of her heartbreak of not even being able to hold her son's body because it had become a crime scene by the time she arrived in Radstock.

She said: " My Charley boy was stolen from me in a senseless violent act," adding that she couldn't breathe with the grief over his death. She said the last thing she had said to him that day had been 'don't be late, ' because he was always late and they had both smiled.

The powerful eloquent words from Charley's family moved all those in court, with defence counsel Charles Row KC saying that he did not in any way want to diminish the sense of loss, but appealed for the judge to take into account Delbono's age and his intentions.

In passing sentence the judge praised Charley's loving family for their words and for sitting in court throughout the trial. He said that what had started as a straight forward punch up, ended up with a young boy with his whole life ahead of him lying dead on the ground. He told Delbono, who initially had intervened in a fight between Charley and another boy : " You took (the knife) from the car intending to use it as you did... not to warn people off."

Delbono later drove to Shearwater Lake where he threw the knife, which has never been recovered, into the water.

Judge Hart's final comments were a warning about the increasing incidence of knife crime and the tragedy that can unfold. He said : " Let me say to all who hear my remarks of the damage that is caused by carrying knives..... you may rob a person of their life. What happened that day cast a horrible shadow over everyone."