FOUR teenagers have been arrested on suspicion of the murder of a 12-year-old girl in Liverpool city centre.
Ava White, 12, has died following an assault in the city shortly after a Christmas light switch on took place.
Merseyside Police said she suffered “catastrophic injuries” in the attack following a verbal argument at 8.39pm.
Four boys – one aged 13, two aged 14 and one 15-year-old – have been arrested on suspicion of murder, the force said.
When police arrived at the scene, they found Ava, who was with friends, collapsed on the ground and receiving first aid from a member of the public.
Paramedics attended and she was taken to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital where she died a short time later.
READ MORE: Met Office issue 'danger to life' warning for parts of Scotland
Assistant Chief Constable Jon Roy said: “Our thoughts and condolences go out to Ava’s family, who are being supported by specialist family liaison officers.
“Their world has been torn apart and no parent should ever have to face that knock on the door from police officers to say that their child has died.
“We believe that Ava and her friends had been involved in a verbal argument which culminated in Ava being assaulted causing catastrophic injuries.
“And we understand that the offenders were then seen to run up School Lane across Hanover Street and on to Fleet Street.
“We have arrested four males, one aged 13 years, two aged 14 years and one aged 15 from Toxteth, on suspicion of murder and they are currently being interviewed at police stations on Merseyside.
“Liverpool City Centre was very busy at the time of the incident as the lights on the Christmas tree on Church Street had been officially switched on a short while earlier and we would appeal to anyone who was on Church Street who saw the incident, or may even have captured it on their mobile phone, to come forward.”
A Home Office post-mortem is due to be carried out to establish the cause of death.
Mr Roy added: “An extensive cordon remains in place at the scene, which includes Williamson Square, Tarleton Street, Church Street, Church Alley, School Lane crossing over Hanover Street on to Fleet Street, whilst forensic experts continue their examinations.
READ MORE: Priti Patel 'no longer invited' to France's migrant crisis meeting after Boris Johnson letter
“We will endeavour to release the scene as soon as is practically possible, but we would ask members of the public for their understanding and patience whilst our investigations are being carried out so that we can bring justice for Ava and her family.”
Merseyside Police said there would be additional officers in the city over the coming days and in the run up to Christmas to provide reassurance.
Police appealed to anyone who witnessed the incident or may have filmed it to contact them either on Twitter at @MerPolCC, via Merseyside Police Contact Centre on Facebook or by calling Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 with reference 0899 of November 25.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article