THE mum of murdered schoolgirl Ava White has recalled the devastating moment she found out her daughter had been stabbed to death.

Little Ava, 12, was killed in Liverpool city centre after a Christmas lights switch-on in a row over Snapchat in November last year.

Her mother Leanne got a call shortly afterwards saying her little girl had been knifed – a conversation she will never forget.

Speaking 12 months after the horrific night, the 39-year-old told BBC Radio Merseyside: "I just remember getting a phone call off my sister saying Ava had been stabbed.

"I can remember thinking she's made some kind of mistake… Ava won't have been stabbed.

"I went straight up to Alder Hey [children's hospital] and then everything was just a blur."

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A 14-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was jailed for Ava's murder in July.

He had previously boasted to police that he'd "get away with it" but was sentenced to life with a minimum of 13 years.

However, Leanne thinks it is the White family which is serving a life sentence.

The distraught mum said: "It's easier for the offender to do the crime, get 13 years in jail and come out after that.

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"It's us doing the life sentence, and Ava."

A row broke out at the festive event on November 25, 2021, after a group of boys recorded Snapchat videos of Ava and her friends.

Ava and the defendant argued because he had filmed her without permission – before he lunged at her with a blade.

She died of her injuries at the scene.

After he was charged, the boy admitted possessing the knife, which had a 7.5cm blade, but denied murder and manslaughter.

He told the court he'd been frightened Ava would "jump" him, adding: "I promise, I didn't mean to hit her."

But Ava's friends say he "grinned" after plunging the knife into her body then ran from the scene as she begged pals: "Don't leave me."

The killer wept as he was convicted by jurors in May – while more than 20 members of Ava's family in the public gallery erupted into cheers.

And, after the teen was sentenced several months later, Leanne moved the court to tears as she remembered her "beloved" daughter.

"It's the past, the present and the future," she said.

"It's not one horrific moment. Our lives became permanently divided into before and after.

"My beloved Ava dies all over again every morning I wake up. My Ava dies again every moment she's not with us for the rest of my life.

"She was my life, the life and soul of the party. She was a happy, healthy child adored by her family.

"The light of my life was dimmed forever."

The family recently met other families who have lost relatives to knife crime.

Ava's sister Mia, 19, told LBC: "My life is living hell on earth.

"We haven't actually been as a whole family since this happened to Ava. We can't, it's too painful.

"A lot of my cousins are Ava's age, so it's hard seeing them.

"It's like they don't really know what to do or act. You want to take their pain away too.

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"There is no Christmas no more. Not for me and my mum.

"We won't every celebrate it again. I can't, it's too hard for me."

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