HEARING a bloodcurdling scream from downstairs as his wife answered the door, Stuart Stephens almost knew the tragedy that had unfolded before being told.
Barefoot, he raced out to the nearby fields in Emmer Green, Berkshire, where his 13-year-old son and spotted a crowd gathered with a look of .
Pushing through the masses, Stuart felt like his “head was in a washing machine”; and was overwhelmed with “shock, disbelief and horror”; upon seeing his lifeless boy.
Recalling the moment he knelt in Olly’s blood as he fell to the ground, the shell-shocked dad, 56, said: “I grabbed my son’s hand. It was stone cold. I knew he was gone.”;
Olly’s murder in January 2021 horrified the nation. He had been lured to his , 13, who had enlisted two boys, 13 and 14, to exact revenge. None can be named for legal reasons.
Behind the , developed over two weeks and fuelled by humiliating taunts, violent threats and degrading attacks online.
How the horrors of the virtual world lead to real-life violence is the focus of a powerful new Channel 5 , The Real Adolescence: Britain’s Killer Kids, which is out on Thursday.
It follows the huge success of , which follows the chilling story of a baby-faced 13-year-old boy who is arrested for the murder of his classmate.
Olly’s murder has led Stuart to label social media “a cancer in our children’s lives”; and experts to warn there’s “an arms war”; among youngsters due to their fear of attacks.
Speaking to The Sun, Stuart tells us: “[Social media sites] are very dangerous tools, the smallest arguments can escalate to 30 children becoming involved and we end up with dead children. It’s a horrific situation.
“We could see word for word, moment for moment, the arguments and discussions that built up to the attack over a two to three week period.
“It was so graphic, so horrific, and the complete lack of humanity in their language and threats to kill, threats to harm, was stomach-churning.
“They were very nasty kids with no value for life. The girl was just evil, Olly wanted to patch things up so they could be friends but she played on his emotions and lured him into a trap.
“After the stabbing, she ran away skipping and laughing while my son was bleeding out and I was begging him not to leave me.
“There were five or six kids there, they all knew what was going to happen and they said nothing, they were there for the joy of watching Olly being punished.
“Two minutes after Olly was stabbed it was all over social media and even one of his friends in knew. What a horrific way to find out. By then, I hadn’t even called our family.
“I hold everyone in that field responsible for Olly’s death yet we only got three convictions – two for murder and the girl for manslaughter. I feel like she got away with murder.”;
‘You’re going to die’
The sick plot that led to Olly’s death was unearthed through analysis of messages, recordings, videos and photos online.
“I’m so excited, you don’t understand,”; the girl explained in a voice message the night before the attack.
Just 24 hours earlier, one of the boys recorded a menacing video in a balaclava threatening to stab Olly with a ‘nank’ – a knife – if he saw him.
One of them had also sent a voice note to Olly directly, telling him: “You’ve got poison in your heart fam... you’re going to die tomorrow.”;
Disregard for his life was clear, with the girl claiming not to care if he “f***ing dies”; and she appeared delighted by the plan to a humiliating attack against him.
It’s like an arms war... the knives that are being used are massive, they are either zombie knives or machetes
Patrick Green, Ben Kinsella Trust
Stuart says the boys were “goading each other to go further and further”;, which led to the “horrendous”; attack.
Their feud stemmed from him defending a friend who had been ‘patterned’ – an assault or humiliating act deliberately filmed to be shared on social media.
Olly had told the victim’s older brother and the boys, who were furious he had “snitched on them”;, decided to “punish him”;.
‘Pure evil’
On the day of the attack, Olly was lured to the fields to meet the girl, only to be knifed in the back and chest.
“They punctured both lungs so he literally had a minute, a minute and a half, there was no way he was going to survive that,”; Stuart recalls.
“It was pure evil, they left him dying and ran off. They lost all perspective. There was no value in Olly, there were no consequence and they didn’t care about him.”;
To cover his tracks, the boys dumped their bloodied clothes on a railway track and then began to purge their online presence.
You’ve got poison in your heart fam... you’re going to die tomorrow
One of Olly Stephens' killers
Sickeningly in , they claimed the stabbing was “all an accident”; and insisted “Olly fell on to the knife”;. All three of them would receive jail time.
The girl, 13, admitted manslaughter and was sentenced to three years and two months, later increased to five years on appeal.
The boys were unanimously convicted of murder at a trial – with the older one sentenced to 12 years and the younger sentenced to 13 years.
Describing the contribution of social media to his son’s death, Stuart said: “There is a cancer in our children’s lives.
“It starts with the use of a mobile phone with provided to entertain, yet are misused to spread slander, hate, misinformation, and bile and ends in cruel cold-blooded murder.”;
‘Cut heart in two’
The same “cancer”; was evident in the case of , 16, who was knifed to death in , in March 2023.
Spurred on by , the murderer, 14, who can’t be named for legal reasons, wrote: “Giving me too much talk I might have to stab him.”;
Soon after, he announced his plan to “bring tools”; – referring to knives – and – meaning to wear a balaclava – to his 16-year-old accomplice.
The attacker’s rage was fuelled by a dispute over a girl and two subsequent fist-fights in which the young teen had “lost face”;.
On the day of the killing, the killer rented an e-scooter using his mum’s credit card, before driving to the city centre to pick up his pal and headed to Fred’s college, where they stalked his route home.
A fight broke out and after Fred knocked one attacker, 16, to the ground, he turned to see the 14-year-old brandishing an “absolutely massive”; blade.
I live with what happened to Olly every day and it turns my stomach. I can’t understand how a child could do that
Stuart Stephens
“It’s a really big knife,”; DI Simon Barnes says. “He’s seen the knife and backs up, walking backward, doesn’t see the tree behind him and is cornered against it.”;
The 25cm weapon was plunged 16cm into Fred’s chest and “cut his heart in two”; according to the cop, who described the feud having “escalated so senselessly, so needlessly”;.
Prior to the killing, the teens were seen posing with weapons on social media. Patrick Green, of anti-knife The Ben Kinsella Trust, says the platforms have a lot to answer for.
“What social media has done is create a style icon, a youth culture around knife . It glamourises it and normalises it,”; he says.
“It’s like an arms war. A decade ago I’d be talking to parents about checking their knife drawers and particularly the small knives that would be hidden in your belt.
“Now we’re talking to parents about checking the deliveries to come to your door because the knives that are being used are massive, they are either zombie knives or machetes.”;
Social media has also played a part in other high-profile murders of youngsters, including by two .
The day after the 19-year-old was knifed to death in a brutal machete attack, : “It is what it is”; and “idrc”; – meaning ‘I don’t really care’.
Hours before the butchering, one of them posed with a machete tucked into the top of his jogging bottoms and had ’.
They are since abducted, tortured and violently killed two-year-old in 1993.
The mum of , who was with a hunting knife, in February 2023 has on .
She considers it an “absolute cesspit”;, believing it was in-part responsible for , both 15.
As for Stuart, Olly’s mum Amanda and his sister, they continue to battle the emotional wounds of losing such a “loving and kind”; member of their family.
“I live with what happened to Olly every day and it turns my stomach. I can’t understand how a child could do that,”; he tells us.
They continue to fight for a stronger Online Safety Bill – including holding social media bosses accountable for dangerous content and the algorithms that push more of it towards vulnerable youngsters.
He says: “These companies are so big now, it’s almost like the Government is scared of them. They shouldn’t be, it’s a privilege to work in this country, not a right.
“There are a lot of tactics and too many politicians in the pockets of these companies.”;
As Olly’s peers pass their , learn to drive and grow up, Stuart is forever reminded of the milestones his beloved son will never reach.
But that hurt and anger serves a purpose, driving his battle for changes, as he tells us: “I could stay in bed for the rest of my days but I put my feet on the floor because Olly can’t.”;
The Real Adolescence: Britain’s Killer Kids, part of the Lawless Britain season by ITN Productions, airs 9pm Thursday on Channel 5.
