Girl accused of murder says she viewed 'gruesome' website out of curiosity

A 13-year-old girl accused of murdering a woman has told a jury she was hearing voices telling her to harm other people in the months before the killing.

The teenager also told Lincoln Crown Court that she had Googled: "What happens when a 13-year-old murders?" out of "pure curiosity" in the run-up to stabbing 43-year-old Marta Bednarczyk.

Jurors at Lincoln Crown Court have been told the girl accepts unlawfully killing Ms Bednarczyk - who suffered more than 140 knife wounds - but denies murder, claiming diminished responsibility.

Giving evidence on Tuesday, the defendant, who cannot be identified due to her age, was asked why she had viewed a website showing executions and other forms of death in November last year, four months before the killing at a property in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire.

The girl told the court: "It's a website that shows people dying. It's very gruesome.

"I just stumbled across it and I was curious what it would be."

Other Google searches related to death had been conducted out of "just pure curiosity", while voices in her head telling her to hurt people had left her feeling scared, the girl said.

During questioning from defence KC Mary Prior, the teenager was asked why she had searched the internet for: "How do I know if I have got a mental illness?"

The defendant responded: "I didn't really have many friends so I just relied on Google to tell me.

"I was hearing voices in my head. I felt like I just had an issue with myself and I am like: 'Why do I feel this way?'"

Less than a week before the alleged murder, the court heard, the girl sent herself a message saying she did not recognise herself any more and wanted to die.

Asked if she remembered writing the message, the teenager told the jury: "That's how I was feeling for that entire month and ever since."

Prosecutors allege the teenager conducted online research before killing Ms Bednarczyk in March this year.

The trial, sitting at Lincoln's Magistrates' Court, has heard the teenager was taken to hospital after her arrest, where she was seen smiling by a police officer and a nurse and did not appear to be "confused or responding to voices telling her what to do".

Opening the prosecution's case, Crown KC Samuel Skinner said the girl initially claimed a third party had attacked the victim.

Alleging that the killing had been planned for several weeks, Mr Skinner said the teenager sent messages to friends saying she "probably wouldn't be in school for a while" and had "plainly thought she was getting away with murder".

The prosecutor said it was "the sad truth" that what lay behind the killing may never be known, but alleged it had nothing to do with the girl's mental health.

The trial continues.