Teenager who stabbed 16-year-old love rival to death in pre-planned fight over teenage boy admits murder

A teenager has admitted the murder of a 16-year-old love rival whom she stabbed five times in a pre-arranged fight over a teenage boy.Chloe Dransfield, 16, died after being attacked by beautician Kayla Smith, 18, following an escalating row over a boyfriend they had both been in 'on-off' relationships with.Smith had denied murdering Chloe outside her home in Leeds, West Yorkshire, in the early hours of May 28 this year.However, on the second day of her trial, jurors were told that she had changed her plea to guilty.Judge Mr Justice Kavanagh, KC, told them: 'The defendant, Kayla Smith, had changed her plea and has now pleaded guilty to murder. That means she had admitted the charge of murder.'Jurors retired briefly before returning to formally announce a verdict of guilty.Smith was told she faces 'custody for life' when she is sentenced at a later date. She had previously admitted inflicting the five stab wounds to Chloe's back and neck, but denies murder.Chloe had travelled by taxi to Smith's home in Leeds, West Yorkshire, with boyfriend Blake Dowling, 18, who had previously dated Smith. Chloe Dransfield, 16, died on the morning of March 28 after being stabbed five times in the back and neck Kayla Smith, 18, today pleaded guilty to Chloe's murder on the second day of her trialHe is accused of helping to set up the confrontation despite knowing of the bad blood between the two females. Dowling's mother said Smith was 'jealous and obsessed' over her son's relationship with Chloe.A third defendant, Archie Rycroft, 20, is accused of encouraging the violence by filming the fatal attack on Smith's mobile phone before it was later deleted.During the opening of the trial yesterday, the court heard how Smith, who lived in a garden annexe at her grandfather's bungalow in the Austhorpe area, had become embroiled in a series of heated exchanges with Chloe in the hours before the stabbing.She was alleged to have boasted about being better in bed, and told Chloe: 'I am going to batter you. Watch what I will do to you.'In another exchange, overheard by Chloe's friend during a FaceTime call, Smith threatened: 'I'm gonna stab you in your throat.'Around 34 minutes before the 5.11am killing, Smith messaged a cousin to say: 'I'm stabbing her, on my nana's ashes'.Seventeen minutes she messaged again 'she's on her way' and 'I'm stabbing her'.Opening the case at Leeds Crown Court, Mark McKone, KC, said: 'The prosecution say that this was a pre-planned fight. The prosecution say that Kayla Smith was the person who inflicted all the blows including the fatal blow with a knife. Smith was seen inhaling laughing gas before stabbing 16-year-old Chloe 'Blake Dowling had been in a relationship with the deceased, Chloe; and Blake had also been in a relationship with the defendant, Kayla Smith.'Blake knew of the bad feeling between the two females.'Footage from a neighbour's Ring doorbell captured Smith 'striding quickly' across the pavement with 'something shiny' in her hand, shouting: 'Come on, big girl'.She was also captured on camera inhaling laughing gas before the attack. Chloe was stabbed three times in the back and twice in the neck with a 20cm kitchen knife. A fatal 13cm wound to her back penetrated her lung, a post-mortem concluded.Neighbours tried to perform life-saving resuscitation after finding Chloe gravely ill on the pavement in large pool of blood.Smith accepted stabbing Chloe and inflicting the fatal wound but had denied murder.Dowling accepts taking Chloe to Smith's home in a taxi, knowing the females might fight, but denies knowing that Chloe would be seriously harmed.Rycroft accepts following Smith into the street but said he was simply 'being nosey' and did not film the confrontation.The trial of Dowling and Ryecroft continues.This is a breaking news story and is being updated.