Katie Rough was seven years old when she was killed. (Mirror.co.uk)A teenage girl has been given a life sentence for manslaughter for the killing of seven-year-old Katie Rough in a York earlier this year.
The 16-year-old teen admitted manslaughter due to diminished responsibility at a previous hearing and appeared via video link at Leeds Crown Court
The judge ordered the girl to be detained for a minimum of five years in what he described as a “truly exceptional case.”
Katie Rough dies after she was smothered by the teen and then slashed with a Stanley knife in a park in York on 9th January of this year.
Katie was later found on the field with two severe cuts to the neck and chest, but a post-mortem investigation revealed she was smothered to death before the cuts were made.
Prosecutors said at earlier hearings that the teenager was given medication for anxiety and depression, and had suffered from delusions during 2016.
They said the girl had talked about being convinced that people “weren’t human and were robots”, and she may have been trying to prove Katie was not a robot when she cut her.
The teen clutched a soft toy throughout the hearing and sat with her head down.
Mr. Justice Soole told her: "The gravity of the offense of killing a small child speaks for itself. 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 family said in a statement: "Today is the end of a process and that is a relief, but it's not the end of our story.
"Our story is about a loving home and family that was torn apart on the day we lost our daughter.
"Our story goes on into the future, where our home feels very empty, but we will keep going for the sake of our other children and our grandson.
"Our hopes for the future are for a loving and safe home for our family, and we hope we will now find the privacy for that to happen."
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