Teenager ‘grinned' before stabbing man in heart with Rambo knife, trial told

North Wales Chronicle

15-07-2025

Jurors at Derby Crown Court heard that Charles Hartle, who was aged 17 at the time, allegedly carried out an 'utterly pointless killing' when he attacked Noah Smedley on a dark street in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, on the evening of December 28 last year with the knife he kept hidden in his tracksuit bottoms.
The defendant, now aged 18, sat in the dock on Tuesday wearing glasses, a black jacket and white shirt while Adrian Langdale KC opened the prosecution case.
Mr Langdale told the jury of seven women and five men: 'On December 28 2024 you will have been getting over Christmas and preparing for the new year – Charles Hartle was going out on the streets armed with a knife.
'He moved towards Noah, he grinned or smiled before deliberately aiming for and stabbing him in the chest.
'There is no dispute that this lethal weapon was in the hands of that young man Charlie Hartle.
'Noah Smedley, the Crown will say, did absolutely nothing wrong, he did nothing to deserve what happened to him. He wasn't himself armed… he did not offer any violence.
'The Crown will say it was an utterly pointless killing other than this defendant's unhealthy interest with knives and the fact he was, the Crown will say, a habitual carrier of knives.
'You will hear that the defendant was planning on meeting up with three of his friends who would later witness, and be feet away from, the murder.'
The court was told that Hartle and his friends arranged to meet Mr Smedley who arrived at the scene on an electric scooter and sold them cannabis before the fatal attack.
Mr Langdale continued: 'It was agreed to meet him at a bus stop on Heanor Road, Ilkeston, and so the defendant and his three mates are captured on CCTV shortly after 8pm going to meet the deceased.
'This defendant deliberately hangs back at the back of the group, whilst the others are chatting with Noah and he gives them the cannabis.
'All seemingly, in these matters of seconds, are in good spirits – there is no animosity.
'This defendant will pull his balaclava down over his face, he moves forward in the group to get closer to Noah and reaches into the back of his tracksuit.
'Hartle immediately takes one stride forward and in the same motion thrusts the knife forward and through Noah's heart.'
The jury heard that Hartle and his friends ran from the scene leaving Mr Smedley 'staggering and bleeding profusely'.
The knife penetrated the right ventricle of Mr Smedley's heart and his left lung causing internal bleeding and his lung to collapse, the prosecutor said.
Mr Langdale told the court: 'The defendant raises the idea of self-defence claiming to the police he had recently been threatened by others with knives. As a result of that he decided to take this knife out.
'The Crown say this is an entirely false account, instead it was the defendant who routinely carried a Rambo knife… and did so for the kudos and bravado.'
The prosecutor said Hartle carried the weapon to show others he was a 'big man'.
Jurors heard the defendant, of Station Road in Stanley, Derbyshire, pleaded guilty to possessing a bladed article in a public place but denies murder.
CCTV of the group was shown to the jury, including the moment Mr Smedley was fatally stabbed with a knife described to be 'eight to nine inches' long.
Hartle allegedly 'cleaned himself up' and disposed of his balaclava, knife and phone before his father drove him to Ilkeston Police Station, the court heard.
The jury was told that in a prepared statement given to police, Hartle said: 'Firstly, I accept responsibility for inflicting the injury on Noah Smedley.
'There is a history to this, and Noah and I did not get on. He has, in the past, made numerous threats to me and made disparaging comments. He has threatened me with violence.
'I was petrified that he was about to lunge at me. In that split second, I instinctively lashed out with the knife I had, in self-defence.'
The trial, which is expected to last two weeks, continues.