The boy said to have stabbed an older man half a dozen times in a crowded park on a hot Saturday afternoon has been found guilty of attempted murder.

Two other boys, including the teen described by prosecutors as the 'ringleader' who called the stabber to Banbury’s People’s Park, were cleared of both attempted murder and wounding with intent.

‘Boy Z’ kept his eyes fixed on the judge ahead of him as the foreman said the word ‘guilty’.

READ MORE: Woman killed in Oxfordshire M40 pile-up

The alleged ringleader, ‘Boy X’, dressed in a suit and tie, blinked three times as the foreman returned the not guilty verdict to the attempted murder count.

Thin-faced Boy Y, wearing an open-necked white shirt, was found not guilty of attempted murder and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

READ MORE ABOUT TRIAL

Remanding ‘Z’ in custody until the sentencing hearing on May 12, Judge Michael Gledhill KC told the jury: “This is a very, very serious case. You all know that. I don’t need to remind you.”

He said the boy, who in his mid-teens at the time of the stabbing, was looking at a ‘lengthy’ period of detention in a young offender’s institution.

The families of all three children were in the public gallery of the courtroom to watch the verdicts.

During the five-week trial, the jury heard that victim Danils Bogdancevs was punched, kicked, stamped on and stabbed in what prosecutor Mark Trafford KC labelled a ‘brutal and vicious’ attack on June 11 last year.

Prosecutors put the attempted murder allegation on the basis that it was a ‘joint enterprise’ stabbing.

The trouble between Mr Bogdancevs and Boy X began before the stabbing.

Video footage played to the jury showed X, armed with a stick and brick, chasing the older man around the park.

Opening the case last month, Mr Trafford said: “Danils did not want any trouble in the park that day. He knew, of course, that X was intent on violence. His efforts to avoid violence simply by saying ‘go away’ were ineffective.”

Boy X was alleged to have told the older man: “I’m going to f*** you up, mate. I’m going to f*** you up right now.”

The prosecutor said of X: “He was the main person involved. He was the person who started it. He was the person who chased and he was the person who started the last fight.

“But to be quite clear, they then all acted together.”

Z appeared in the park after the first phase of the incident.

The third co-defendant, Y, named Z as the boy who shouted ‘cut’ in the second phase of the incident –  when Mr Bogdancevs, lying on the ground, was attacked by the group – implying that Z was the stabber.

Boy Z accepted being in the park at the time but told the jury he had not been involved in the assault.

Oxford Mail: Click here to sign up to the Crime and Court newsletter Click here to sign up to the Crime and Court newsletter (Image: Newsquest)

He claimed to have punched Mr Bogdancevs a fortnight earlier in an effort to explain why the victim’s blood was found on his jacket.

Following the verdicts, Judge Gledhill formally commended a member of the public who had performed first aid on Mr Bogdancevs before the arrival of the emergency services.

Awarding her £500 from public funds, the judge said: “My view is that she certainly saved the life of this young man.”

The victim’s friend, who went to fetch a defibrillator that fortunately was not required, received a commendation and will be awarded £300 from public funds.

Both will be invited to a ceremony with the High Sheriff.