Teenager guilty of murder after stabbing boy to death on dance floor at end-of-term party

Charlie Cosser was stabbed to deat at an end-of-term party(Family handout/Sussex Police) (PA Media)

A 17-year-old boy has been found guilty of murdering a teenager stabbed to death on a crowded dance floor at an end-of-term party.

Charlie Cosser was stabbed multiple times at the event at a rural farmhouse attended by around 100 people in West Sussex last year. He died in hospital two days later.

At Brighton Crown Court on Tuesday, a jury found a 17-year-old boy guilty of Charlie’s murder and having a bladed article.

In the courtroom, members of Charlie’s family cried and hugged each other as the verdicts were given.

The trial had heard how the defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had taken a knife out of his shoulder bag during a fight involving Charlie and two other boys at the party in Warnham, near Horsham in July 2023.

He then attacked Charlie before later telling friends, with his hands and trousers covered in blood, that he had “stabbed someone five or six times”.

Mr Alan Gardner KC, prosecuting, said the fight took place after the defendant - who was 16 at the time - and his friends had been asked to leave because of complaints from a girl at the party.

Charlie collapsed on the floor at the party called “BalFest” and was still able to communicate with paramedics when they arrived at the scene.

However, two days later he died from his stab wounds.

Video footage played to the jurors showed revellers just before midnight dancing to Toxic by Britney Spears under disco lights in the marquee.

A fight was visible in the background with punches being thrown before the recording ended.

Charlie’s death last year was met by an outpouring of tributes. The boy, known as “Cheeks”, was described as “cheeky” and “loving” by his family, who added: “Despite courageously battling right ‘til the very end of his young and innocent life, his injuries were too severe and he tragically passed away on the evening of Tuesday 25 July.”

A fundraiser for University Hospitals Sussex in his name passed £5,000.

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