He Was Transfixed By Notorious Child Murders. Then He Tried to Kill a 9-Year-Old Girl

A British man who was fascinated with child murders has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for stabbing a 9-year-old girl who was playing outside of his home.

Jordan Wilkes, 29, received the sentence after being found guilty on March 7 of one count of attempted murder and one count of possessing a bladed article, the BBC reports.

The attempted murder took place in Christchurch, Dorset, in Aug. 2024, when Wilkes stabbed the girl with a penknife in her jaw, shoulder and knee, according to the BBC.

The girl was playing with a friend in the stairwell of the building where Wilkes lived when he came out of his flat and stabbed her, police said, according to the BBC.

During the surprise attack, Wilkes tore a handful of hair from the girl’s head, which he kept as a “trophy” until his mother made him throw it out, Prosecutor Berenice Mulvanny told the court, The Guardian reports.

The girl was rushed to the hospital where she was treated for serious stab wounds, Mulvanny told the court, the BBC reports.

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Wilkes came close to severing major arteries when he stabbed the girl in her neck, which could have killed her, Mulvanny said, according to the BBC.

After Wilkes was arrested, investigators learned that he had been researching child murders, after they found 69 files on his phone of videos, news articles and podcasts about children being killed, The Guardian reports.

This included the “sadistic” stabbing murders of three young girls in Southport, England, in July 2024.

One of the Southport victims, Bebe King, 6, was stabbed 122 times with a knife. A second victim, Elsie Dot, was stabbed 85 times.

During sentencing, the judge told Wilkes, “You are a dangerous offender,” The Guardian reports. “You had an interest in child-killing and you decided to try it out for yourself.”

In addition to the 30-year sentence, which will run concurrently with a two-year-sentence for possession of a bladed article, Wilkes must serve five years’ probation.