Autistic teen, 16, stabbed in chest after venturing out for only the second time in two years

An autistic teen who was left needing life-saving surgery after being stabbed in the chest was attacked after venturing outside for the second time in more than two years.

Billy Baxter, 16, was knifed in the heart and lungs while walking near his home in Blackburn, Lancashire in September last year and has been left with a 12-inch scar down his chest.

His 17-year-old attacker, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sentenced to 28 months in custody for the offence last week in what his victim's mother said was a "slap on the wrist".

Jessie Brian, 35, who found out her son had been attacked when he messaged her on Snapchat to say he was on his way to hospital, said before the attack he had spent more than two years without leaving his girlfriend's house because of social anxiety caused by ADHD and autism.

She said he and the girl had broken up shortly before the attack on 17 September last year and her son had moved back home.

"He’d been in a relationship, and he’d found out she was cheating on him, so he came back home after isolating with her for two and a half years," Brian said.

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"I said to Billy, 'Just get out there! You need to start socialising with people and making new friends. Forget about everything that’s happened'."

She said he had met another girl but was ambushed after leaving the house to try to meet her.

"So he’d met this young girl, and managed to get to town and to see her, but then he heard his name being shouted across the road," she added.

"He put his hood down and didn’t want any trouble, but next thing he knew the lad was in front of his face, and he got stabbed straight in the chest."

Brian said her son was rushed to hospital where doctors found he had internal bleeding, prompting life saving surgery.

But he also suffered mental trauma from the attack, she said, and the family are now planning to move out of the area.

"Billy wanted to be a plumber and now he’s too scared to go out of the house just when he got his confidence back," she said.

"He feels very conscious about the scars. He talks about it every single day. It’s not just one little scar. It’s one big massive scar and two scars underneath it.

"This boy who did all this will probably get out and get a job or whatever, and my son is left not knowing what to do next."

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