Pictured: The sixteen-year-old teenager who murdered policeman’s daughter by stabbing her through the skull with a hair comb

Rebecca Douglas was 15 when she plunged the steel prong into the left temple of Julie Sheriff during a petty row in the street in Battersea, south London

The victim collapsed and fell into a coma which lasted until her death five months later

Douglas, who had been sleeping rough at friends’ houses, was ordered to serve a minimum of 10 years after being convicted of murder last month

Judge warned parents to be aware of the dangers to young girls wearing such combs as 'fashion accessories'

He said she killed Julie in 'hate-filled fury' after the girls argued in the street about mobile phone messages

Named: Rebecca Douglas was just 15 when she plunged the steel prong into the left temple of Julie Sheriff during a petty row in the street

The teenage girl who murdered a 16 year-old rival by stabbing her through the skull with a hair comb was named for the first time today.

Rebecca Douglas was just 15 when she plunged the steel prong into the left temple of Julie Sheriff during a petty row in which she accused the victim of spreading gossip about her having sex with boys.



She confronted the victim outside a betting shop in south London and demanded: 'What do you think you are doing in Clapham?'

The girl then asked her friends to hold her bag and Blackberry mobile phone before stabbing Julie in the shoulder and the head.

Seconds later the victim, from Hackney, east London, collapsed and fell into a coma which lasted until her death five months later on September 21 last year.

Douglas, who had been sleeping rough at friends’ houses, was ordered to serve a minimum of 10 years after being convicted of murder last month.

The Old Bailey heard that the pintail comb had been taken out of Julie’s red weave hair before being used as a lethal weapon in the attack in Battersea, south London, in May last year.

Julie, of Hackney, east London, never recovered from the swelling and bleeding it caused to her brain and died almost five months later, in September.

Judge Nicholas Cooke warned parents to be aware of the dangers to young girls wearing such combs as 'fashion accessories'.

He said: 'We heard evidence that a pintail comb can be used as a lethal weapon.

'We heard it can be worn in the hair as a fashion accessory.

'It can be as effective a killing instrument as a stiletto knife. It is not a very nice thing to have in your hair.'

Judge Cooke said that in addition to being detained during Her Majesty’s pleasure, Douglas had been in custody for 15 months.

He said she killed Julie in 'hate-filled fury' after the girls argued in the street about mobile phone messages.

Judge Cooke told Douglas: 'Your victim died a long, lingering death some months after you attacked her.'

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Tragic: Julie, of Hackney, east London, never recovered from the swelling and bleeding the attack caused to her brain and died almost five months later

In the run-up to the killing, Douglas became convinced that Julie had been spreading malicious gossip about her having sex with boys.



On May 7 last year, the pair clashed outside a William Hill betting shop in Falcon Road, Clapham, and angrily snapped: Why are you here?’



Prosecutor Jonathan Turner QC said: ‘There seems to have been some territorial issue between them. Eyewitnesses remember her angrily telling Julie outside the betting shop that she was not welcome in Clapham.’



A friend of Julie’s told the court: ‘They began arguing, talking about this and that, talking about doing sexual stuff with boys.



‘The argument escalated and it became heated. Julie insisted she hadn’t said any of that. She seemed confused, in shock about what was going on.



Spike: A witness saw Douglas strike Julie's collarbone without much effect and then plunge the comb into her skull

‘I was trying to drag Julie to go but she wanted to say her piece.’

Each girl gave as good as she got until Douglas took the comb, which a friend said Julie was in the habit of wearing in her hair.

The judge said: 'You took possession of the pintail comb and struck out in fury.'

Jonathan Kinnear QC, for Douglas, said she had a traumatic and violent childhood. She had not meant to kill Julie.

A replica of the black comb with a spiked metal handle had been shown to the jury.

A witness saw the defendant strike Julie’s collarbone without much effect and then plunge the comb into her skull.

The witness heard a sound which he described as like 'when you kill a goat back home'.

Crime scene: The attack happened in Falcon Road, Battersea, South London

The girls knew each other and actively disliked one another. They met in the street by chance on the fatal day.

Jonathan Turner, QC, prosecuting, said: 'There seems to have been a row brewing between them as a result of malicious gossip. Two young girls arguing about gossip and about boys.'

Douglas was arrested the following day near an address in Pimlico, central London, where she was staying.

She had left a BlackBerry message saying: 'I see some girl that I hate, like I actually hate her with a passion, and I kind of stabbed her.'

Julie’s family moved to Britain in 2006 from Sierra Leone, West Africa, where her father, Raouf, was a policeman.

He told the court in a statement: 'I am left to wonder why I brought her here and if I hadn’t, she would still be alive.

'The result of seeing my beautiful, bubbly, brilliant daughter bedridden and in a vegetative state, has left me extremely depressed.

'The attack on my daughter was wicked, savage and senseless.'