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A judge has slammed the “badge of honour” of carrying knives after he lifted the banning order on naming the boy who murdered Alfie Lewis outside a Leeds school.

The judge at Leeds Crown Court lifted the reporting restrictions this morning on naming Bardia Shojaeifard, before he is sentenced for the killing.

The 15-year-old carried a knife around all day on on November 7 last year and took it out to plunge it through Alfie Lewis’ heart when he saw him at the junction of Church Lane and Church Road in Horsforth.

Parents collecting their children from school witnessed the bloody attack before Shojaeifard fled the scene and dropped the knife. Alfie, 15, died a short time later.

Because of Shojaeifard’s age, he automatically received anonymity for the crime, but the judge, the Honourable Justice Barry Cotter KC opted to lift those sanctions after applications from the press to name the boy.

Shojaeifard was named by the courts today. (pic by WYP) | WYP

He said there was “strong interest” in the public to know who had committed this “terrible crime”.

He added that there was a “clear public interest” to the dangers of knife crime and those who “believe possessing a knife is some sort of badge of honour”.

If you’d like to receive more stories like this and the latest news from Leeds, click here to subscribe to our free daily newsletter Shojaeifard had previously admitted to killing Alfie but said it was in self defence, claiming that he was scared of being attacked after the pair had previous altercations.

Following a trial that started on April, the jury found Shojaeifard guilty of murder.

He is to be sentenced this morning and faces a mandatory life sentence with a minimum tariff due to be set by the judge.

Judge lifts ban on name and face of boy who murdered Leeds teenager Alfie Lewis by stabbing him through heart