A 14-year-old boy stabbed a girl inside a shop after she refused to go out with him, a British court was told.

Prosecutors said the teenager became “obsessed” with a girl from his school. After she rejected him in December 2025, he used fake social media accounts to message her. He later followed her to a store in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, with a knife in his jeans pocket.

Police said he walked toward her, pulled out the blade, and stabbed her several times. The shopkeeper tried to pull him away and was struck in the back with the knife. The girl ran out of the shop and raised the alarm at a neighboring property.

She suffered cuts to her neck, hands and face, and bruising to her back. The boy fled but was found nearby. Officers searched him, recovered a knife from his pocket, and arrested him.

Police were called to Upper Churnside in Cirencester around 11:15 a.m. on March 15. The boy, from Wiltshire, cannot be named for legal reasons. He appeared at Bristol Crown Court on Monday.

In a statement read to the court, the girl said she is now scared in public, flinches when people raise a hand near her, has nightmares, and no longer wants to be outside alone.

Detective Superintendent Ian Fletcher of Gloucestershire Police called it a “frenzied attack” in broad daylight and said the victim was “very, very lucky” the injuries were not worse.

Source: New York Post reporting, Sept. 22, 2026.