Seaford: teenager jailed after killing 16 year-old over £20 drug debt
Joshua Ingram died less than an hour after the attack
Last updated 2nd Oct 2026
A teenager has been jailed for life, with a minimum of 14 years. after stabbing a 16 year-old to death outside Seaford train station.
Joshua Ingram died less than an hour after the attack, which was over a £20 drug debt.
The prosecution had told jurors that the 16 year-old defendant was a “small-time drug dealer” who had supplied Joshua with drugs in the summer of 2025 but had not been paid for them.
Snapchat messages read in court included the teenager now convicted of murder saying: “Josh will perish if I don’t get my f** money, that’s a fact and he knows this.
“I’m ready to sit in a prison cell for 30 years over a £20 sheet.”
Two more teenagers have been given a community rehabilitation order, for assisting his killer.
On the day he died, Josh had been at college, where he'd just started a new bricklaying course.
Family say the "cheeky chappy" had taken to it like a "duck to water".
But prosecutors say he "stood no chance", after being stabbed in the heart.
In a statement, read out by Detective Chief Inspector Paul Stanley, after the verdict, Joshua's parents, Yvette Bullen and Dave Ingram, said no sentence could ever make up for the loss of their son.
"Whilst today's verdict brings a measure of justice to our family, it will never bring Josh back, and no sentence, however long, will ever replace the precious life that was stolen from him, or heal the devastating loss to our family," they said.
Joshua's mother has made a Victim Impact Statement: "I make this victim personal statement, to explain the impact that his death has had on me, my family and our lives. Nothing we say can truly describe what it is like to lose your child, especially in the violent and senseless way that we lost Josh. Josh, our son, was 16 years old when he was murdered.
"He should have had years ahead of him to grow, to learn, to find his way in the world, to build relationships, to have a career and to create a future for himself. That future was taken away.
"As a young child, Josh was shy. Even seeing his nursery teachers outside of school, he would hide behind me, as their place was school, not in Morrisons.
"He was his granny's boy, helping her, running rings around her and making her watch endless episodes of Fireman Sam.
"He was the class clown at primary school, popular and happy. Once he started school, he found himself and did everything at 90 miles an hour, which resulted in a few A&E trips.
"He loved his first ever holiday, when we went to Tenerife, in the water with seals, and boat trips to see dolphins. He started senior school after lockdown. Life changed, friendships changed, but he was still our boy and he would be mortified at me saying this, but he was still the boy that watched Fireman Sam, The Smurfs and the Minions and drove us mad with them on repeat.
"In his later years he left school to begin a bricklayers course, which he was two days into when he was murdered. He wasn't perfect and it's no secret we had a few challenging years with him, but he was starting to turn himself around.
"Prior to 10 September 2025, we had been on a family holiday. Myself, his dad, his sister and her partner and, away from certain influences and lifestyle choices, we had our boy back for those two weeks. Laughing, joking, joining in and the good old surly teenage face, when you pointed a camera at him.
"He's been described in many ways since his death. Kind, caring, cheeky, lovable rogue, great friend, goofball, but also challenging and a little sod. All the traits that made Josh, Josh.
"As his mother I live with guilt every day. On the Friday before, Josh had asked me for £20. I said no. He'd had a fortune spent on him on holiday and all of his college items, so I wanted his bedroom tidied first. That is a parenting decision I will regret for the rest of my life.
"On the night itself, there is a good chance I would have seen those responsible walking up the road and running back down again after Josh was murdered, as I would have been outside having a cigarette and coffee, before starting work at 5pm. Once I had found out what had happened from his girlfriend's mother, I ran out of work to see my boy on a stretcher, with his chest wide open in the road. A sight that I will never forget.
"Then I had to call his dad and his sister. His dad had been driving back in his lorry and had seen the emergency services passing him on the A27, unaware it was for Josh. I then subsequently had to lie to both of them when he had been pronounced dead, so they didn't drive over.
"His dad was then subjected to the slowest drive of his life in a police car, for what I can only assume was to give them time to get Josh back in the ambulance and cover him over, because the medical intervention was severe. In the meantime, I was sat in a police car watching all of this unfold.
"The next time we saw him was in the back of the ambulance, dead and tubes still attached. A sight no parent should ever see. We couldn't even touch him. Just a kiss on the head to say goodbye, as he was a crime scene. The ambulance service finally took him at 21:43 hours, after Josh and the area had been processed enough to allow Josh's release to the mortuary.
"Due to waiting for the post-mortem and his body to be released, again for Josh being a crime scene, we didn't see our boy again until 23 September 2025, at Brighton Mortuary. At this point, he was just a cold corpse, a shell of our boy. Because of ongoing inquiries, our hopes of getting him to Chestnut Tree Hospice into their Star Suite, so we could stay with him and spend time, with him disappeared.
"We finally got him to Chestnut Tree Hospice on 30 September 2025, which was a beautiful place and they dressed him for us ready for his funeral, but because of the time lapse we only had four hours with him.
"We thought watching him going off in the ambulance on the night was heartbreaking, but that day was even worse, because it was the last time we ever saw him.
"The funeral itself showed how loved he was, but my God, walking out of your house to see your child in a box in the back of a hearse and having to follow it to the church, then walk in in front of everybody there and watch that box being brought in.
"There are no words for what that did to us that day. Then we had to follow him out, watch him go back in that hearse and know the next time we saw him would be his wooden box, that lives in his bedroom. Josh's murder did not only take our son's life, it destroyed other lives as well.
"It has left our family and that includes his wider family, living with a loss that can never be replaced. Every day we wake up with the same crushing reality. He's not here anymore.
"As his parents, we don't sleep properly. Noises in the house, we stupidly think it's Josh home, but the reality is it's his sister's boyfriend coming home from work late at night. As his mum, I still go shopping and pick things up for him, then put them back, as he is no longer here.
"For the future we imagined and hoped for, seeing him grow up, was taken in an instant and the future we imagined for ourselves, with him in it, has disappeared too.
"All due to one mindless act of violence. For us as a family there will be no more milestones, no passing college, no career, no family of his own, and no opportunity to see the person he would have become.
"There are countless moments and memories, that we should have shared with him but never will. No parent should ever outlive their children, but because of those actions all we now have left are photographs, videos and memories.
"Day in, day out, is hard. Seeing a photo, a memory, talking about him, all ends up in tears. All we have left in our house is a wooden box with his ashes. Nothing more, nothing less. As a family, we have been through a lot over the last four years.
"The loss of both of my parents, two close friends, one of which was last weekend and Josh. With the loss of Josh, this has tainted memories of these events. It was recently the anniversary of my mother's death, but yet again these circumstances have taken over rather than me going to visit my mum's resting place and just having that time to visit her and my father in peace.
"Over a year has passed, so we have now done all of the first anniversaries. Bonfire Night, where he was remembered by our local bonfire society, Christmas and even this year I have already bought him an advent calendar.
"We had his 17th birthday without him and we bought him a model motorbike for that, in blue of course, as it's something he will now never have.
"And in 2027, it should have been his 18th birthday. A major milestone, that we will never get to celebrate. It is hard seeing the other kids turn 17 and some now 18. It's heartbreaking for us. Since the trial, I still haven't gone back to work at Morrisons, because I can't face the questions, the looks, the talking about "that's the mum of the murdered kid".
"It took me months, after it originally happened, to go back and I am now back in that same situation. But still, when I have been back to work, I finish late at night and still look at the bench outside, stupidly expecting Josh to be sat there waiting for me, despite the fact where he was declared dead is directly over the road.
"We have spoken to young people who had known Josh for much of his life. They described the devastating impact of losing a close friend at such a young age. They spoke of anxiety, fear, loneliness, struggling to socialise and the lasting effect of what happened. They described Josh as a significant part of their childhood and said they will never forget him. We have also met a few of the people who were present that night on the station on his anniversary.
"These are grown adults, who will never forget what they saw, how they tried to help and how it will never leave them. The trial itself over a five-week period was hard going. Being present throughout the proceedings and observing behaviour in court at times added to our distress and made the process even harder.
"There were occasions during the trial, which left us feeling upset and frustrated and which added to the emotional toll on our family. There were also comments that were overheard following the verdict, which caused further distress.
"These are things we had to witness and live with throughout the proceedings, whilst remaining unable to respond. The overall experience of the trial placed a significant emotional strain on us as a family. I do not believe those responsible, or their families, can comprehend the lifetime of pain inflicted on our family, because we are the ones who will suffer the life sentence.
"Josh was not simply a victim of a senseless crime. He was our son, part of our family, a young person with hopes, dreams and a future. Josh was loved. His life mattered and ours will never be the same again. Someone could have knocked on my door, said he owed £20 and I'd have been angry, but I would have paid it.
"His life was worth so much more than £20. I hope this vicious, senseless act makes others think before carrying a knife and, as for others, if you know someone is carrying one, report it rather than assisting them, because this could have been prevented if someone had spoken up."