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Harry Gilbertson Named Publicly for First Time on His 18th Birthday

Lifting of restrictions coincides with ongoing efforts by Ava’s family to highlight social media’s role in youth violence

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Overview

  • Harry Gilbertson was convicted in 2022 of murdering 12-year-old Ava White in Liverpool in a 2021 Snapchat-related dispute and received a life sentence with a minimum 13-year term.
  • Reporting restrictions kept Gilbertson’s identity secret until his 18th birthday, when he was publicly named as Ava’s killer for the first time.
  • Ava’s mother, Leeann White, who founded the Ava White Foundation after her daughter’s death, continues to campaign for knife crime prevention and has distributed hundreds of bleed control kits across north-west England.
  • White’s family raised concerns after Gilbertson posted a Snapchat photo from custody on what would have been Ava’s 15th birthday, underscoring failures in prison internet controls.
  • The Ministry of Justice has pledged new measures to tighten controls on social media use in prisons and to review extending these restrictions across all custodial sites.