Manchester Crown Court, northwest England, has sentenced a homeless man, Liam O’Pray to at least 28 years in prison for stabbing to death Rico Burton, during a late-night bar brawl in nearby Altrincham.
The 31-year-old Burton was the cousin of the British professional boxer, Tyson Fury.
The three-week trial heard how O’Pray, 22, attacked Burton with a seven-inch blade, almost severing the major carotid artery in his neck and causing massive blood loss, according to RFI.
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,” Conrad 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 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.
RFI reported that Cannabis, cocaine and ketamine were found in O’Pray’s bloodstream.
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 have had my heart ripped out and cut into pieces.”
