One of Britain’s youngest killers was talking about knives and drugs in front of his grandmother at the age of nine, it has emerged.
The boy, one of two 12-year-olds found guilty Monday of brutally murdering teenager Shawn Seesahai with a machete, posed such a threat to those around him that a neighbor barricaded his home with razor wire and metal bars.
He, along with his friend, are believed to be the youngest suspects convicted of murder in Britain since Robert Thompson and Jon Venables, both aged 11, were found guilty of murdering two-year-old James Bulger in 1993. They are also thought to be Britain’s youngest ever knife murderers.
Even after he was arrested, the boy took photos of knives while in custody, which prosecutors said showed his interest in deadly weapons.
But his obsession with crime and violence seemed to develop years in advance.
In an Instagram video unearthed by The Telegraph, the youngster can be heard rapping to Central Cee’s Loading, a song that mentions “pokers,” British slang for a knife, and “plugs,” in reference to drug dealers.
In the footage, the boy wears bandanas on his head and over his mouth and holds up a coat of arms with his hand.
As he sings the violent lyrics, his grandmother, with whom he lived, watches.
He was later influenced by imprisoned drill musician SJ, who rapped about “waving a knife” and “tearing through guts.”
Wolverhampton residents living near where the two 12-year-olds carried out the brutal machete attack said on Tuesday the boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was rampaging the local area.
They painted a picture of a “nasty piece of work” that they accused of damaging street lights, trapping scooters and posting fireworks through letterboxes.
He regularly skipped school, rode a mountain bike around the local playing fields and loitered outside shops and alleys late into the night, as part of a gang of youths of a similar age, they said.
One told The Telegraph: “He came back at 4am. I thought, why did a twelve year old come back at four in the morning?
“You could see he had a knife. I told the police he had with him and I told social services he had a knife.
“He was gone every night of the week. He was in gangs. Gang members would be waiting for him in that alley.
‘I don’t want him breaking into my house while I’m away. I connected it all with barbed wire. I shielded the window.
“His friend was always with him. They were always together, squeezing, night after night. Scum, that’s all he was.”
A nasty piece of work
Another neighbor added: “I can’t believe the violence used would come from someone so small. He was a thoroughly dirty piece of work.”
Seesahai, 19, who had only been in the country for six months and was originally from the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla in the Caribbean, was attacked as he discussed Christmas plans with a friend in a Wolverhampton park last November.
The fatal wound to his back was more than 8 inches deep and the machete, which was almost 17 inches long, passed through his heart and almost came out of his chest.
Tributes have been paid for the victim, including from his former school, Albena Lake Hodge Comprehensive School in Anguilla.
Victim was ‘a sweet person’
A staff member at the school told The Telegraph: ‘At first I just knew him as a lovely person.
“He occasionally got into trouble with other kids, like hanging out in the hallways, but it was nothing alarming.”
Shortly before the fatal encounter, his attackers, who ‘often’ carried a machete, passed them to each other on the playing fields of Stowlawn in East Park, Wolverhampton.
The victim’s friend told the trial he was forced to run for his life, but Mr Seesahai stumbled as he tried to flee from the boys.
After refusing to answer police questions in the aftermath of the murder, the boys both gave evidence to jurors, blaming each other for delivering the fatal blow.
The young people not only managed to call for help for Mr Seesahai, but also showed no remorse for what they had done in the 24 hours before their arrest: one of them cleaned the machete with bleach and hid it under his bed .
They told the court they both played video games in the hours after the murder and claimed they did not know Mr Seesahai had died until the next day.
Jurors heard one of the defendants pose for a photo with the murder weapon, wearing a mask, hours before the killing. He appeared to have 11 bloodstains on his clothing.
The boy was also seen with blood on his hands in the aftermath of the murder, while his friend had a small spot of bloodstains on his right trainer.
The boy who owned the machete with the black blade was charged with his heavily bloodied clothing and man bag. He said he bought the machete for £40 from a “friend of a friend” who he declined to name, but police said there was evidence he had searched for knives online.
His hoodie, found inside out by police and mixed with other clothing in a laundry basket, had bloodstains on the front of the right sleeve, the front and back of the left sleeve, the right chest and the lower left front.
Officers searched a storage area under a bed and found a machete. A tracksuit with visible blood stains was also seized from a laundry basket at one of the schoolboys.
‘Children are dangerous now’
In an interview after the verdicts, Seesahai’s parents, Suresh and Maneshwary, said they will never be able to get over the loss of their son, who always told them he would “shine” and take care of them.
Mr Seesahai said: “This world is a different world, children are dangerous now. If we don’t pay attention to it, this will continue to happen.”
Ms Seesahai added: “Twelve-year-old children should do their school work at home and then go to bed. I have two children and at 7:30 pm they had to go to bed because they have to follow the rules of the house.
“That’s why they do their school work and rest for a while.”
Last month, police chiefs said illegal dealers were selling guns to under-18s through social media channels including TikTok, Snapchat and Meta’s.
Some teenagers, often those involved in the drug trade, want to buy high-profile weapons such as zombie knives or machetes.