A TEENAGER who stabbed schoolboy Reece Tansey to death has told a court he only intended to scare him.

The 15-year-old, who can only be identified as Boy A, appeared at Manchester Crown Court to give evidence in his own defence via a video link.

He and his co-accused, 15-year-old Boy B, both deny murdering Harper Green School pupil Reece, also aged 15, in the early hours of May 4.

Questioned by his barrister, Richard Wright QC, Boy A claimed that he did not really know Reece and it was Boy B who had a “beef” with Reece’s friend.

He said that he did not want to get involved with a fight that was being arranged but went along with it because Boy B was a “mate”.

The teenager described how he had been drinking vodka at home and was tipsy when he took two knives from the kitchen drawer and sneaked out of the house.

He added that he and Boy B had discussed taking the weapons and he gave one of the knives to his friend, which he put into his pocket.

“I heard Reece carried knives,” he said “If I went to the fight and Reece got a knife out, I could get a knife out.”

The court heard that, as they walked towards Walker Avenue in Great Lever, the plan was for Boy A to start a fight with Reece and then Boy B would join in.

But Boy A told how, when they met Reece in Walker Avenue, Reece punched him and put his hand in his man bag so he and Boy B pulled out the knives they were carrying.

Boy A admitted that he chased Reece, twice catching him and punching him with both hands. In his left hand he still had the knife.

He stressed that he was not thinking about stabbing Reece as he hit him, but felt that he had stabbed him once.

“I can remember one stab. I felt it go in .... when we both fell to the floor, he said.

Boy A added that he feared Reece would turn up at his house and so he wanted to scare him but did not intend to hurt him.

The teenager said that he did not believe Reece was badly hurt because he ran off when the fight broke up.

“How badly did you think he was injured?” asked Mr Wright.

“Not that badly because he was still running,” said Boy A.

He admitted that, before burying the knife in mud near Doe Hey Brook, he took a video of it covered in blood and with a caption describing Reece as a “muppet”.

“I just put it for show,” he said.

The boy stated that he made Boy B hand over the knife he had loaned him and put it back into the kitchen drawer.

“I didn’t want my mum to notice knives were missing,” he said.

He added that a message he later sent to Boy B stating, “he’s dead now”, was a joke and he did not learn that Reece had died until later that morning.

The teenager said he “panicked” and did a factory reset on his phone and admitted to his mum what he had done.

Arrangements for him to go to the police station were made but he explained that he did not answer officers’ questions on advice from his solicitor.

“Do you accept that you stabbed Reece several times and caused the stab wounds the pathologist found on his body?” asks Mr Wright.

“Yeah,” replied Boy A.

The trial continues.