Teenager shared footage of fatal fight with friends

Police unable to retrieve full video after boy deleted it

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A warning that this story contains information which some readers may find distressing.

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A teenager who filmed a fatal stabbing on his mobile phone says he ‘regrets’ showing it to other people in the hours following a 14-year-old boy’s death in Ramsey.

The boy - who can’t be named for legal reasons - told police investigating what happened to Christopher McBurnie, on 29 May last year, that friends ‘wanted to see what had happened’.

A 15-year-old boy from Ramsey is currently standing trial accused of his murder.   

At Douglas Courthouse today (2 October) jurors watched the witness’s Video Recorded Interview which was conducted at Police Headquarters on 30 May 2025.

‘Beef’

The boy, who was 14 at the time of the incident, gave a detective his account of what had happened in the lead up to Christopher’s death and the hours afterwards.

He’d boarded a bus from Laxey to Ramsey, joining Christopher and another teenager onboard, and had been tasked - by Christopher - with filming a fight which was due to take place that afternoon.

When asked why the fight had been arranged the boy told the police officer there had been an argument over social media the previous evening.

“There was some massive beef on TikTok,” he recalled adding that the defendant had insulted Christopher ‘about his family’.

“Obviously Chris has got wound up and asked him to fight,” he added.

When asked about the conversation between the three boys on the bus the witness replied: “Chris was just saying he was going to fight him, and beat him up, and whatever.”

He said Christopher was ‘confident’ because 'he believed he was going to win'.

"X (the defendant) doesn’t fight. He just sits at home all day,” the boy added. 

The teenager said he didn’t think Christopher – who he described as a ‘close mate’, from another school, who he knew through a mutual friend – was carrying a weapon.

He was, the witness said, just worried about 'getting his coat dirty'.

Revealing he’d been ‘really close’ friends with the defendant in the past, the boy said they hadn't spoken for around four months after having a fight.

Ramsey

After getting off the bus at Ramsey Bus Station the three boys, and six other teenagers, began to make their way to the defendant’s home.

The witness said he knew where he was going because he’d stayed at the defendant’s home in the past; Christopher, he said, told him it was only his second time visiting the northern town.

“We didn’t think X (the defendant) was going to come out,” the boy told the police officer: “We went straight to his house via the alleyways.”

The teenager said after the group had arrived he saw the defendant open the front door and say: “Come here then.”

He said the two boys started fighting recalling: “I thought he (the defendant) was going in for a headlock. He jumped in the air and landed on him.”

Between arriving, and Christopher being stabbed, he said was just ‘three or four minutes’.

“We didn’t know he’d been stabbed until he (Christopher) came running out (the garden),” he added.

Jurors have previously been told Christopher was stabbed at 3.24pm and pronounced dead at the scene at 4.04pm.

Recording

The witness said following Christopher's death he, and a friend, had got the bus back from Ramsey to Douglas and he’d then told Christopher’s ‘close friends’ what had happened.

Discussing the video he’d recorded at the scene he told the officer he’d started filming 'as soon as Chris went to throw a punch' adding: “I started recording it, and then that (the stabbing) just happened.”

When asked who he’d shown that video to the teenager replied ‘a lot of people’ adding: “I probably shouldn’t have (shown it) to be honest.”

The teenage witness added: “I’ve fully deleted everything off my phone.”

When the officer tells him she’ll need to seize his phone anyway the teenager replied “Will I get it back?”

‘Aggressor?’

Following the VRI the defendant’s advocate, Siobhan Grey KC, began cross-examination of the witness who was appearing in court via a live video link from an external location.

He told her that the defendant had been challenged to a separate fight, with different people in Douglas, a year before but hadn’t turned up ‘because he got scared’.

When asked again what Christopher, and the other boy, had said on the bus to Ramsey on 29 May the witness replied: “That they were going to batter him.”

The teenager also revealed he’d tried to dissuade other students, who were leaving school that afternoon, from attending the property to watch the fight.

“Was there a concern that so many people would look intimidating?” Ms Grey pondered.

When asked how much footage he thought he’d captured from the incident the witness told her: “I started recording when Christopher went to throw a punch. I think it was mostly the full fight.”

“What was caught on your camera would have been very important to police, wouldn’t it?” the advocate replied.

“Before you went to the police you had deleted the footage, hadn’t you? Did you delete the footage on your phone because it showed Christopher as the aggressor?” she asked.

“No” the witness responded.

“Are you aware police were only able to retrieve part of that footage?” she asked.

“No” the witness replied again, adding he’d deleted it because he didn’t want footage ‘which showed someone dying’ on his mobile phone.

The Trial

The juvenile defendant denies the charge of murder.

The trial is due to continue on 5 October.