Katie Rough manslaughter: Teenage girl jailed for life for killing seven-year-old girl in York park

Family pay tribute to ‘a little girl who brought more colour to her world’

Katie Rough, aged seven, was killed in January 2017 (North Yorkshire Police)

A teenage girl who killed seven-year-old Katie Rough while suffering from “delusional thoughts” has been given a life sentence.

The 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was 15 when she smothered the child and then slashed her with a Stanley knife in York.

A judge ordered the teenager to be detained for a minimum of five years after she admitted manslaughter due to diminished responsibility in the “truly exceptional case”.

Katie’s family were in Leeds Crown Court for the sentencing, where the killer appeared via video-link sitting with her head down and clutching a soft toy.

The girl did not speak to confirm her identity, with her name spoken by a court usher and youth worker instead.

“The gravity of the offence of killing a small child speaks for itself,” Mr Justice Soole told her. “The level of danger to the public is high.

“In the circumstances of your continuing silence, the critical question is whether there is any reliable estimate as to how long that danger will continue.”

Katie’s relatives said the end of the legal process came as a relief but it was not “the end of our story”.

“Our story is about a loving home and family that was torn apart on a day when we lost our daughter,” the family said in a statement.

Katie Rough’s coffin leaves York Minster following her funeral service on February 13 2017 (John Giles/PA)

“Our story goes on into a future where our home feels very empty, but we will keep going for the sake of our other children and our grandson.”

Relatives expressed their gratitude to the family, friends, York community and well-wishers who raised money in Katie’s memory to provide 10 years of education and welfare for two Ugandan children around her age.

A bench and flowers have been dedicated to Katie in York’s Museum Gardens and a sculpture is being made for the Moorlands Nature Reserve.

“Our hopes for the future are for a loving and safe home for the rest of our family, and we hope we will now find the privacy for that to happen,” the family said.

“Katie’s memory will live on in our hearts but also more widely, as a little girl who brought more colour to her world.”

A previous hearing heard the defendant was “troubled and damaged” before she killed Katie on 9 January.

Mr Justice Soole had made an interim hospital order for 12 weeks for further psychiatric tests on the teenager ahead of Friday’s sentencing hearing.

In July, the court heard she smothered Katie with a gloved hand before slashing her throat and torso with a Stanley knife.

The teenager was found standing in a nearby cul-de-sac covered in blood and still carrying the knife as she rang 999 to tell police what she had done.

Graham Reeds, prosecuting, said the defendant had started self-harming, felt suicidal and had “developed an interest in the macabre” after losing friends at school.

“She was having thoughts that her family and other people were not human and were robots,” he added.

“She did not believe this thinking was irrational and that it had some foundation, it was found she was suffering from delusional thoughts.”

Nicholas Johnson QC, defending, told the last hearing his client may have been “driven by the irrational belief [Katie] may not have been human and needed proof of this”, and believed the people around her were robots “controlled by a higher and hostile force”.

DCI Andrea Kell, who led the North Yorkshire Police investigation, said it had been “one of the most tragic and challenging” of her career.

“There are no positive results from cases such as these,” she added. “Regardless of the conviction and sentence, nothing will ever replace the loss of Katie.

“The lives of Paul and Alison Rough, and their wider family, have changed forever as a result of the devastating events.”

Ms Kell said she hoped the family could now focus on trying to rebuild their lives, while thanking the emergency services and police involved in the “deeply distressing” investigation.

Elizabeth Jenkins, the deputy chief crown prosecutor for Yorkshire, said the “appalling crime” had caused Katie’s family unimaginable grief.

“The defendant pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Katie on the grounds of diminished responsibility and we accepted that plea after very careful consideration of the psychiatric reports,” she added.

“Our thoughts remain with Katie’s family as they have been throughout.”

Additional reporting by PA