A teenager charged with the murder of nine-year-old Aria Thorpe will stand trial in June next year.

The 15-year-old boy, who cannot be named because of his age, appeared at Bristol Crown Court on Friday.

The defendant, who appeared via video link from youth detention accommodation, spoke only to confirm his name.

During a brief hearing, Judge Peter Blair KC, the Recorder of Bristol, set a provisional trial date for 15 June 2026.

The trial is expected to last two weeks.

Avon and Somerset Police were called to Lime Close in Weston-super-Mare just before 6.10pm on Monday, where nine-year-old Aria had suffered a single stab wound.

The boy was arrested in nearby Worle a short time later.

His father was among those attending in the public gallery.

The teenager is next expected to appear in court on 16 March.

The British government is hoping a change in German law will help stop small boat crossings to the UK.

The measures to criminalise the facilitation of migrant smuggling towards the UK, agreed more than a year ago, have now been passed by German legislators.

British ministers say they mean gangs will no longer be able to store small boats or engines in Germany before transporting them into France to cross the Channel.

It will also strengthen existing UK-German law enforcement cooperation and information sharing, they say.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “Together with our German allies, we are cracking down on the criminal gangs operating the illegal migration trade.

“I thank minister [of the interior] Alexander Dobrindt for Germany’s strong cooperation with the UK in tackling this issue.

“This government is restoring order at our borders by scaling up removals and removing the incentives that draw people here illegally.”

The law passed on Friday is set to be in force by the end of the year, the government said.

👉Listen to Politics at Sam and Anne’s on your podcast app👈

The first 10 months of 2025 saw record numbers of people crossing in small boats, although the total number of people arriving across the Channel has since fallen below the peak seen in 2022.

For 28 days no crossings were recorded in official figures before hundreds of people made the journey last weekend.

Share

Last week: Small boat crossings resume after 28 days

Illegal small boat migration has become one of the most contentious issues in British politics, symbolising frustration with migration levels and a perceived lack of control from multiple prime ministers.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer moved away from the Rwanda deportation scheme and pledged instead to “smash the gangs” before his election victory.

However, the failure to make a substantial difference to the number of people crossing has been seized upon by both the Conservatives and Reform.

Others, like the Green Party’s Zack Polanski, have called for safe asylum routes to be opened to discourage people crossing clandestinely.

Read more:
Inside the route to the Channel
France to intercept suspected taxi boats soon

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Criminal smuggler gangs operate across borders, so governments and law enforcement need to cooperate across borders to bring them down.

“This major change in German law is the result of our close partnership working to tackle illegal migration and organised immigration crime. We will continue to ramp up our international cooperation to strengthen our own border security. These are the partnerships we build abroad to make us stronger at home.”

Adrian Matthews, director of intelligence at the National Crime Agency, said: “We welcome the legislative change in Germany.

“It will help boost our efforts against the small boats threat and it builds on our close working relationships with German partners who are key to helping disrupt organised crime groups operating from the continent.”

A woman and her lover who plotted to kill her husband so they could continue their affair have both been jailed for 19 years.

Michelle Mills and Geraint Berry planned to murder Christopher Mills and make it look like suicide.

They were found guilty of conspiracy to murder after a trial at Swansea Crown Court in October.

A third person, Steven Thomas, was found not guilty of conspiracy to murder but pleaded guilty to a firearms charge.

Police were called on 20 September last year to reports that masked men carrying guns, later found to be Berry and Thomas, had raided a static caravan in Cenarth, Ceredigion.

Despite being badly beaten, Mr Mills was able to fight them off and they fled.

Michelle Mills, 46, called 999 to say her husband had a head injury and claimed she did not know the armed men who broke in.

Armed officers and a dog unit responded, and a police helicopter soon spotted Berry, 46, and Thomas, 47, hiding in undergrowth.

While searching Berry and Thomas, officers found gas masks and a typed suicide note addressed to Mills purporting to have been written by her husband.

Police quickly established that Mills, of Llangennech in Carmarthenshire, was linked to the plot.

Digital evidence revealed she and Berry – a former Royal Marine – had been in a secret relationship for around three months and had discussed ways to kill Mr Mills.

These included killing him with sleeping tablets, suffocating him in his sleep and poisoning him with antifreeze.

Berry also looked into how to make his victim’s Mini explode on start up.

Police said when Berry told Mills he was meeting with some “boys” to plan “what they are going to do with him”, she responded: “Yes, lovely, thank you.”

Gas masks were ‘to set up a fake suicide’

Detective Inspector Sam Gregory said: “Berry and Mills had previously discussed using gas to kill Mr Mills, while making it look like he had taken his own life.

“Berry had asked Mills where the boiler was, and he and Thomas carried gas masks that would have protected themselves while Mr Mills suffocated.

“No explanation has been given by any of the three defendants for the fake suicide note or the gas masks in the rucksack.

“What’s clear is that these were not being used to frighten Mr Mills – they were there to set up a fake suicide.”

DI Gregory said the victim had no idea his wife of 10 years wanted him dead and believed they had a happy marriage.

‘Your intention was to kill’

Judge Mr Justice Nicklin KC said the pair had not shown any remorse and they were only concerned with not getting caught.

“You devised the plan and led its execution,” he told Berry.

“You recruited Steven Thomas to assist you and while intoxicated, you equipped yourself with items that demonstrated your intention to kill Mr Mills and make it appear to be a suicide.

“However incompetent the plan was and how unlikely it was to be achieved, your intention was to kill.”

Read more from Sky News:
Teen to face trial over murder of nine-year-old Aria Thorpe
‘Alien battleship’ reaches closest point to Earth

The judge told Michelle Mills she had encouraged her lover.

He said: “The evidence strongly suggests in the weeks leading up to the incident, you cultivated and exploited Geraint Berry’s animosity towards your husband and encouraged him to find a way to get rid of your husband, not in fantasy but reality.”

The judge also praised Mr Mills’ “remarkable fortitude and courage” in fighting off the pair.

Steven Thomas was sentenced to 12 months but will be released immediately due to time served on remand.