LONDON, United Kingdom, Aug 4 – A 22-year-old man will serve at least 28 years in jail after being found guilty of murdering the cousin of boxing world champion Tyson Fury, a UK judge ruled Friday.
Homeless man Liam O’Prey was found guilty at Manchester Crown Court, northwest England, last month of stabbing to death Rico Burton, 31, during a late-night bar brawl in nearby Altrincham.
The three-week trial heard how O’Pray, 22, attacked Burton with a seven-inch blade, almost severing his major carotid artery in his neck and causing massive blood loss.
Judge Alan Conrad handed the father-of-one a life sentence, with a minimum of 28 years before he is up for parole.
“You were a stabbing waiting to happen,” he told the defendant.
“You can blame all manner of things but the fact is you and others like you who chose to carry knives that’s the problem.”
Burton’s death prompted boxing champion Fury to post an Instagram message calling on the British government to clamp down harder on knife crime.
The court heard how the fight erupted after O’Pray’s friend Malachi Hewitt-Brown was punched by Burton’s cousin.
O’Pray was also found guilty of stabbing Harvey Reilly, 17 at the time, during the same incident. Reilly’s wounds were not fatal.
Cannabis, cocaine and ketamine were found in O’Pray’s blood stream.
Deborah Burton, the mother of Rico Burton, said in a victim impact statement that “throughout the whole traveller community Rico will never be forgotten.
“On the day he died, a piece of me died inside. I I have had my heart ripped out and cut into pieces.”
