Boy (13) admits murdering Irish builder in north London

A 13-year-old boy has pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to the murder of an Irish man who had tried to stop a gang of youths entering his apartment block in north London.

Members of the family of Christopher John Barry, better known as Jack, had travelled to London from Ireland for the five-minute hearing in court before Judge Anthony Morris.

The boy cannot be named for legal reasons.

Asked to confirm his name in court, the boy,who was dressed in a blue shirt and grey school-trousers, said: “Yes”.

His guilty plea to a single count of murder on Sunday, December 14th, 2014,

was almost inaudible to the small number of people in court.

Mr Barry (53) , originally from Cobh, Co Cork, was attacked in front of his partner last December. They had arrived home to Edmonton from an early evening Sunday drink to find that a gang of youths were trying to enter the block to go to a house-party.

Residents had been warned not to let strangers into the building, following trouble earlier. Mr Barry tried to stop the group coming through a key-pad operated door, but he was stabbed in the chest moments later.

Paramedics called by his partner were on the scene within minutes.

Despite treating him in the hallway of the flat complex in Edmonton Green, the paramedics were unable to save him and he died at the scene.

The boy, who was accompanied his separated parents, will be sentenced on April 10th to detention at the Crown’s pleasure - the juvenile equivalent of a life sentence.

He is one of the youngest people ever to plead guilty to murder in Britain.