The girl pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to be detained in a Young Offender Institution for three years and two months,[3] which was later increased on appeal.

The girl, who knew Stephens in real life, met his two assailants online and only saw them in person for the first time on the day of the murder.

Through voice notes later recovered during the police investigation, the boys discussed their plan to attack Stephens, saying they would "give him bangs [hit him] or stab him".

In another voice note, the 14-year-old girl claimed to be "excited" that one of the boys planned to "bang [hit] him and pattern [humiliate] him and shit".

[3] On 3 January 2021, the girl arranged to meet Stephens at Bugs Bottom, a field close to his home, shortly before 5 pm.

[2] An off-duty nurse, who was walking her dog at Bugs Bottom, witnessed the stabbing and gave first aid to Stephens.

They disposed of bloodstained clothing by throwing it into an overgrown area close to a railway line, and deleted incriminating material from their mobile phones.

[2][7] The 14-year-old girl was charged with Stephens' manslaughter for luring him to the field, and to perverting the course of justice for deleting incriminating data from her mobile phone.

[3][4] In December 2021, the Court of Appeal decided that the sentence handed down to the girl was unduly lenient, and increased it to five years' imprisonment.

[5][14] Stephens' parents claimed social media "played a massive part" in their son's death and called for it to face tighter regulation by the government.

[5] In June 2022, a BBC News investigation found that social media accounts set up to resemble those of a 13-year-old boy were recommended posts "showing off knives, knives for sale and videos glorifying violence" within only a few weeks of liking and interacting with content relating to sports, popular music and gaming.