MURDER TRIAL LATEST: Knife was found in garden of defendant's home, court is told

A number of knives were also found in the boys bedroom during a search by police.

The boy, 14, is accused of murdering 12-year-old schoolboy Roberts Buncis in an attack in Fishtoft last December.

The court was today told how the defendant's response to being arrested for murder was to swear and tell police “I want my solicitor”.

The jury at Lincoln Crown Court heard that police identified the teenager as a suspect from messages found on the mobile phone of the dead boy Roberts.

Prosecutor Sally Hobson, reading a series of agreed pieces of evidence to the jury, said: “It was established Roberts Buncis had been in contact with the defendant between 0200 and 0314 on 12 December.

“They (Police officers) discovered there was an arrangement to meet in a wooded area regarding a purported drug deal.”

She said that as a result of the information police went to the home of the defendant at 2.15 am on 13 December and arrested him on suspicion of murder.

Miss Hobson told the jury “The defendant’s words were to the effect of ‘What the ****. I want my solicitor”.

She said he was handcuffed and taken to the Boston Police custody suite and later taken to Pilgrim Hospital for treatment to an injury to his right hand.

At the hospital the boy refused to tell doctors how he had been injured but subsequently told a radiologist he had cut himself with a knife.

Miss Hobson said that when the defendant’s bedroom was searched officers found some small cannabis plants growing inside the room. A number of knives were also found.

Miss Hobson, said “A small kitchen knife was found under the defendant’s bed. A hammer was found inside a black bag in the bedroom.

“There was a small kitchen knife behind the bedside cabinet. There was a home-made knife inside the bedside cabinet. There was a black handled knife concealed within a sock in a desk in the bedroom.”

A blood-stained knife was found in the garden during a search carried out by a police dog. The tip of the knife was missing and testing on the blood revealed the DNA of both Roberts and the defendant. A partially burned Nike jacket was also found in the garden.

The defendant , who cannot be identified because of a court order, denies the murder of Roberts Buncis.

The prosecution say that the 14 year old lured Roberts' out of his home in the middle of the night and then stabbed him "again and again". Roberts' body was found on the morning of 12 December 2020 in a wooded area near to Alcorn Green in Fishtoft.

The trial was adjourned today and will resume on Monday when the defence case is due to begin.