16 year old Christina Edkins murdered on the bus to school in Birmingham

 

This man is worrying me on the bus… keeps getting up and walking up and down stairs, and sitting in different place.

She also said she “hated” catching buses and was looking forward to learning to drive.

Christina had been on the top deck of the No 9 for just a few minutes when the knife maniac struck as the bus pulled up just after 7.30am in Birmingham city centre.

She had been making her regular 30-minute, seven mile journey to Leasowes high school in Halesowen, where she was due to sit a mock GCSE exam.

Horrified witnesses tried to save her after the driver raised the alarm.

One gave her CPR but the youngster, who turned 16 just a week ago, died in their arms as fellow pupils looked on in tears.
Last night police were questioning a 22-year-old man on suspicion of murder.Phillip Simelane was arrested near the scene four hours later after a short chase.

Police had been searching for a man who witnesses said was wearing a dark coat with a distinctive tiger motif.

Simelane, originally from Swaziland, lives in a run-down terraced house in an area close to one of Birmingham’s notorious red light districts.

The brutal attack is believed to have been captured by CCTV cameras on the First West Midlands bus.

The killer was already on board when Christina, wearing her black school blazer and skirt, got on using her pass.

It was witnessed by a large number of people – including several schoolchildren.

Darren Bent, whose wife was on the bus, described the incident on Twitter.

Can’t believe some guy has just stabbed and killed a school girl right in front of my missus on the number nine bus on her way to work.

She had to give CPR… the guy did it as bus was about to stop and ran off.”

Friends and relatives gathered at Christina’s family home close to the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham city center.