Katie Rough: Teenager who killed the seven-year-old girl to undergo psychiatric testing

‘Troubled and damaged’ 16-year-old smothered and stabbed victim

Katie Rough was killed on a playing field in the Woodthorpe area of York in January (North Yorkshire Police)

A teenager who smothered and stabbed to death a seven-year-old girl to find out whether she was a robot has been ordered to be detained for psychiatric assessment under the Mental Health Act.

The 16-year-old girl, who cannot be named, broke down at Leeds Crown Court where she appeared via video link on Thursday to be sentenced for the manslaughter of Katie Rough.

The girl, described as “troubled and damaged”, admitted killing Katie on a playing field in the Woodthorpe area of York on 9 January.

The judge, Mr Justice Soole, made an interim hospital order for 12 weeks for further psychiatric tests on the teenager, before she returns to court for further sentencing on 24 November.

The judge told her: “All sentencing options will be open when, at its conclusion, I make my final decision.

“It is not in dispute that you currently pose a high risk of serious harm to others and to yourself.”

In July, the court heard the girl had asphyxiated the seven-year-old with a gloved hand before stabbing her with a Stanley knife, to find out if she was a robot.

The teenager, who remained at the scene, was arrested and charged with murder.

She pleaded guilty to manslaughter by diminished responsibility.

Prosecutor Graham Reeds said the girl’s behaviour had changed last year.

“She developed an interest in the macabre, lost most of her friendship group at school and starting harming herself with a blade and was very upset and reporting suicidal thoughts,” he said.

“From March 2016 there were reports of disturbed thinking but there was no evidence of psychosis. She was having thoughts that her family and other people were not human and were robots.

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