A BOY will appear in court charged with murdering two people in Colchester.

The boy, 17, has denied both counts of murder.

James Attfield was stabbed 102 times on Colchester’s Riverside Walk, between Castle Park and Guildford Road.

Mr Attfield, 33, a father-of-five, of East Bay, Colchester, was found dying on March 29, 2014.

Nahid Almanea was stabbed 16 times on the Salary Brook Trail.

Nahid, 31, who was living in Woodrow Way, Greenstead, with her brother, was killed on June 17, 2014.

She had moved to Colchester from Saudi Arabia to study at Essex University.

The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted two counts of manslaughter by diminshed responsibility when he appeared at the Old Bailey last month.

Mr Justice Spencer gave the Crown Prosecution Service time to decide whether to pursue the murder charges or accept the lesser pleas.

A spokesman for the Crown Prosecution Service has confirmed the trial on the murder charges will be going ahead.

The boy has also denied a charge of possession of an offensive weapon.

He remains in custody awaiting trial.

A trial has been scheduled at Guildford Crown Court for April 11.

Mr Attfield moved to Colchester and was living independently, with the help of head injury charity Mind, after suffering a brain injury.

He spent March 28, 2014, out and about in Colchester shopping and having a drink at a ten pin bowling alley and River Lodge, in Middleborough, but disappeared after about 10.15pm.

He was found the next morning on the path and died soon after.

On June 17, Nahid Almanea was on her way to a lecture.

She usually walked with her brother, but he had left early for a different class.

She was walking alone and was stabbed repeatedly on the trail on her way to the university between 10.20am and 10.40am.