A 17 year old youth was fatally stabbed by another teenager after they met up at a Gloucestershire sports ground to 'sort out their dfferences,' a jury was told.

Joshua Hall's sixteen year old alleged killer believed he had been 'insulted' by Joshua and that there was 'some hostility between them,' Gloucester Crown Court heard.

The boy took a knife with him to their rendezvous in Cam, near Dursley, Gloucestershire, and stabbed Joshua in the hand and the abdomen, said prosecutor James Dawes QC.

He told the jury of eight men and four women "It was 1.20pm on Friday April 16th this year when this happened at the sports ground at Cam. This is where the defendant allegedly killed Joshua Hall by stabbing him with a knife.

"These were severe stab wounds with the knife going through the webbing of Joshua's left hand.

"The impact of this that it affected the whole of his hand, but it was the other stab wound that killed Joshua.

"The knife went through the 17-year-old's abdomen through his liver and notched his vertebrae.

"He underwent an operation at the sports ground in a bid to save his life before he was taken to Southmead Hospital, Bristol, where he underwent further operations but died from his injuries the next day.

"The defendant was 15 at the time and he was the same height, less one centimetre, and the same build.

"The pair of them vaguely knew each other and it seems that the defendant felt there was some hostility between them. He felt he had been insulted by Joshua.

"Joshua was aware that the defendant felt this way from the messages he received on social media. The two of them agreed to meet up at the sports ground to sort out their differences.

"Joshua expected an argument, or at worse getting involved in fisticuffs. He had no idea his life would end here.

"It is alleged that the defendant came to the sports ground with a knife concealed in his waist band. He used it to stab his victim multiple times.

"The defendant was arrested some 30 minutes after the incident and told police he did not know why he did it.

"But the prosecution say the case is clear because the defendant had wound himself up and had taken a knife with him to their meeting.

"When he was taken to the police station he had time to think about his position because of the circumstances in which he found himself and after two days he was charged with murder.

"The defendant has come up with a way of getting out of this situation and claimed that he had used the knife in self-defence after Joshua had attacked him.

"He claimed the stabbing was a mistake."

Mr Dawes added: "The time stamps on various electronic devices suggest that the whole incident lasted just two minutes.

"It is the prosecution's case there would have been little time for the defendant to react in self-defence by the time he confronted Joshua, reacted and walked away. This was planned.

"The knife used is substantial - it was a very sharp boning knife - and was found under a hedge surrounding the sports field.

"A paramedic who arrived by air ambulance, performed an operation there and then, which is only done as a last resort to restart the heart in exceptional circumstances.

"The pathologist Dr Edward Williams stated that Joshua suffered six serious stabbings, but he could not tell in which order he received them.

"It was the horizontal stab that ultimately caused the fatal injury. The knife severed the main aorta to the heart as well as piecing through the liver and taking a notch out of the vertebrae. The pathologist said that the degree of force would have been moderate to have caused those injuries."

The jury was told that one of the group of friends who had witnessed the assault called the emergency services and was told to put Joshua in the recovery position after telling the call handler that the youth had been stabbed and was 'very badly injured'.

A police officer who arrived on the scene took over the conversation with the young witness, who told him that both youths involved had made reference to a girl before breaking into a fight. He said that one of the group asked for help from a cricketer practising nearby in the nets.

The jury heard that Joshua walked around the pavilion area saying he had been stabbed, before falling over onto the playing field and white foam started to come out of his mouth.

At that point in the prosecutor's opening speech, distressed members of the victim's family left the court room.

The trial continues.