Three U.K. teenagers were convicted of murder for the death of 13-year-old Olly Stephens. A girl, 14, was also convicted of manslaughter for luring Olly to the field where the young boy was murdered.
Stephens' parents, Amanda and Stuart, later learned that the death was planned and triggered by a social media chat dispute. Authorities report that the case used "unprecedented digital evidence" from the mountain of evidence on the victim's phone.
BBC News reports that police believed this story stood out because of social media's enormous role in the case. Meta, Tiktok, Youtube, and Snapchat expressed their condolences to the family.
Patterning
The victim's mom, Amanda, recalled that it was the Sunday after Christmas, and the family was preparing to return to school and work the next day. Olly left the house that fateful afternoon, assuring his mom that he switched on his phone location to let her know where he was.
Fifteen minutes later, a boy that Olly knew knocked on their door to tell them that their son was stabbed. Stuart and Olly's older sister ran to the field opposite their home and found Olly lying in a pool of blood. The mom followed after them. The boy died right there.
Police would eventually use Olly's phone to track and convict his killers.
As per the investigation, an attack called "patterning" motivated the young boy's death. Patterning is the humiliation of a young person, which is filmed or photographed and then shared on social media to embarrass the victim. Weeks before the murder, Olly saw an image of a younger boy being humiliated. He alerted the boy's older brother by sending the patterning image to him.
The incident infuriated two other boys, who were in a Snapchat group with Olly, and eventually planned their revenge. They said that Olly, recently diagnosed as autistic, had been "snitching, grassing on them."
They discussed on Snapchat how to attack Olly, including recruiting a 13-year-old girl to set him up.
The young girl sent messages to Olly to meet her in the field. When he did, the pair of teenage boys ambushed and stabbed him to death. The convicted killers then deleted the messages on their phones that would link them to the murder.
The Mirror wrote that Olly would always "stick up for the underdog." After the murder, Olly's father said his son trusted people too much. It was part of his make-up and autism, and they loved him for that.
Unprecedented Digital Evidence
The investigation involved 200 police officers, and as per Detective Chief Inspector Andy Howard, who led the Thames Valley Police investigation, it was "one of the most shocking" of his career.
Howard said that 90 percent of Olly's murder trial evidence was from mobile phones, adding that no child witnesses had to take the stand. He explained that they were surprised to find that the amount of digital evidence was enough to convict the two boys and the 13-year-old girl, per The News.
Meta, the owner of Instagram and Facebook, Youtube, Tiktok, and Snapchat, expressed their condolences to the family. It said it does not allow content that encourages violence, while Youtube stated it has strict policies to ensure its platform does not incite violence.
Tiktok assured parents that it would continue to build guidelines to keep teens and their parents safe online. Meanwhile, Snapchat claimed it strictly prohibits bullying, harassment, and illegal activities.
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