The phrases “stranger than fiction” and “you couldn’t make it up” are frequently attached to a whole plethora of true crime cases, every documentary, book and podcast evenly remotely related to true crime has utter those phrases. But we think we have found one of the greatest “stranger than fiction, you couldn’t make it up” cases.

One evening in late June 2003, 16-year-old Mark lured his friend, 14-year-old John, into an alley in an area known as Goose Green, which is in Altrincham, an affluent suburb of Manchester. Moments later, Mark took out a knife, told John he loved him, and then stabbed him in his chest and stomach. About 20 minutes after the attack, Mark pulled the knife from John’s body. As his friend bled onto the street, Mark dialled 999 and told the dispatcher that a man had stabbed his friend and then fled. How did John and Mar ...