Teenager found not guilty of murdering James Cutting

Mr Cutting, 31, from Bournemouth, was found with stab wounds at Boscombe Chine Gardens on the evening of Tuesday, June 30, last year.

The 16-year-old from London, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was found not guilty of the murder, and not guilty of a charge of attempted murder and two other offences of being concerned in the supply of class A drugs.

A 49-year-old Bournemouth man stood trial alongside him facing a charge of assisting an offender and he was also cleared by the jury.

This verdict was returned at Winchester Crown Court on January 27, this year, following a jury trial.

However, as it was part of a linked investigation – one in which a 19-year-old London man was charged with drugs supply offences – reporting restrictions were put in place pending the outcome of this separate drugs trial.

Although relatively uncommon for court proceedings in Dorset, this is standard practice in UK law and was implemented so as not to prejudice any possible future trial.

But at a hearing on Thursday, May 6, this year, the Crown Prosecution Service offered no evidence in relation to the drugs charges the 19-year-old was facing. So a not guilty verdict was recorded and the reporting restrictions from the James Cutting murder trial were subsequently lifted.

During the murder trial the jury was told that Mr Cutting and another local man aged in his 30s had gone to the gardens to buy drugs and were involved in an altercation with a teenager.

Mr Cutting sustained a stab wound to his upper chest and the other man required hospital treatment for multiple stab wounds to his neck and upper body.

Giving evidence in court, the 16-year-old defendant claimed he had been set upon by the two men and had acted in self defence.

In relation to the drugs charges, both the 16-year-old and the 19-year-old claimed to have been exploited by a county lines drugs gang.

A Dorset Police spokesman said: "Their claims were referred to the NRM (National Referral Mechanism) Single Competent Authority, responsible for tackling exploitation and abuse, which found there were conclusive grounds to accept they were victims of modern slavery and had been subject to forced criminality."

In a statement, the family of James Cutting said: “On 30 June 2020 our lives were changed forever. Our James, a much loved son, father and brother taken forever in such a brutal way.

“His family are left with a permanent void in our lives.”

Meanwhile, Detective Inspector Wayne Seymour, of Dorset Police's major crime investigation team, said: “We carried out a full and thorough investigation into the sad death of James Cutting, as well as matters linked to it, and compiled detailed evidence for the court and jury to consider.

“Our thoughts are very much with the family of Mr Cutting, who have been supported by officers throughout this investigation.”