ARIA Thorpe’s heartbroken dad has revealed why he’s appealing the verdict after the teen who stabbed his daughter to death walked free.
Tom Thorpe told The Sun life without his daughter – who died from a single knife wound that was deemed an accident by a jury – is “incomprehensible” and “beyond heartbreaking”.
A 16-year-old boy – who cannot be identified for legal reasons – was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter at court on Thursday (June 25).
Aria died at her home in Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset, on December 15 last year.
The boy claimed he had accidentally plunged the knife into the schoolgirl’s chest while he was jabbing it towards her in a “fencing” motion to scare her.
He said he did not intend for the blade to go into Aria.Tragic Aria’s mum reveals her last words before she was ‘murdered by teen boy’
Tom, 36, from Portsmouth, who is separated from Aria’s mum Victoria Hull, said: “We feel that the trial was a robbery of justice.
“We don’t understand how you can stand up in court, admit to stabbing Aria, claiming she wasn’t to blame, it was me 100%, but walk out the court a free man.
“How can you kill someone, flee the scene, run away from the scene of the crime, go to the train station, brag about it to your friends, then try to escape on a train… get arrested – how can you do all of that and walk out of the court scot-free?”
He added that he is considering appealing the decision.
Tom said: “We are looking to obtain the official Crown Court transcripts with the aim to instruct an experienced, criminal appeals barrister to conduct a thorough and impartial review of the proceedings.
“This isn’t about undermining the justice system, it is about ensuring that every aspect of the trial was conducted fairly and correctly.”
Tom has spoken to his barrister who told them about the possibility of taking the case to the High Court.
“He warned us that that would potentially not overturn the verdict – all it will do is potentially ensure that no cases like this going forward happen again,” he explained.
Referring to the potential for an independent barrister’s review, Tom continued: “They can look over all the decisions that were made, what the jury had to decide upon and see if there’s any inkling of slight little justice that we can get.
“Then we will try our damn hardest to achieve that.
“But we have been told to appeal, you just need an overwhelming new amount of evidence which I don’t think is going to be the case.”
He added: “How do we tell our two eldest children, who are 14 and 11, who know right from wrong, that Aria has been killed and the boy who killed her got away with it?
“We can’t get our heads around any of it. What example does this set to children across the country?”
Describing Aria, Tom went on to say: “Aria was a typical nine-year-old girl who was full of energy, curiosity, innocence and happiness.
“She loved spending time out as a family, trips to the farm, walks in the woods and playing with slime and anything messy.
“She had a real care for others, always asking how others were and wanted everyone to be happy.”
Tom continued: “Aria and her elder sister loved coming down to our house on the weekends that we had them, where they could be themselves just as the children that they were.”
He said when his eldest child comes to stay with him and partner Sophie, 34, and Aria isn’t there “the excruciating reality dawns on us all”.
He added that his toddler daughter “walks around the house asking where she is, goes upstairs to wake her up in the morning and when she isn’t in her bed she asks ‘mummy, daddy, where’s Aria gone?’”
Tom recalled his favourite memory was taking the four children to Disneyland Paris in July 2024.
He said: “We woke them up, asked what they would like to do today, they gave a few answers like going to a play area, swimming, seeing some horses, going to the beach etcetera, and then we said ‘we have an idea, shall we go Disneyland?’ and pulled out four pairs of Mickey Mouse ears.
“At first, they didn’t believe us and then we started packing the car and said ‘quick, we have 30 minutes until we leave’.
“They all ran around like it was the Home Alone house. It was magical. Aria’s face when she saw all of the princess characters, horse carriages, Moana and rides was a memory we will never forget.”
Tom said “life without Aria is incomprehensible”, adding: “This is beyond heartbreaking.”
It comes after Aria’s aunt Katie Thorpe said outside the court after the verdict: “Our family has effectively been handed a life sentence.
“We will carry this grief, heartbreak and loss for the rest of our lives. Meanwhile, the person responsible walks free.”
Bristol Crown Court heard the boy had fled to a nearby train station following the horror.
Footage showed the defendant telling a group of other youths he had stabbed someone.
He further told the group of youngsters: “You’ll see it on the news later.”
Giving evidence, he told the court he had picked up a knife from the kitchen of Aria’s home and went into the lounge where she was sitting on the sofa.
“Aria stood up and I was waving around the knife,” he told the jury.
“Then at some point I decided that I was going to try to make her flinch and scare her, to get a reaction.
“I leaned forward, acted like I was fencing.”
The court heard how Aria had spent the afternoon before she died at a dance class and was picked up by her mum Victoria Hull.
She ate pizza and seemed “bubbly and happy” – asking her mum if she could have the last Oreo.
Victoria added: “She said something like ‘see you after work mummy’. I replied ‘see you after work, love you’.”
Home Office pathologist Dr Amanda Jeffery found Aria died from a single stab wound, which went through her heart.
