Boy, 17, guilty of 'calculated and abhorrent' murder of Luton teenager Derrick Kinyua
A boy who stabbed another teenager to death in Luton has been convicted of his murder.
The 17-year-old was found guilty of murdering 19-year-old Derrick Kinyua at the junction of Hucklesby Way, Hitchin Road and Crescent Road in April.
Mr Kinyua was ambushed by a group outside an address where he was staying and stabbed several times before stumbling into the road and collapsing.
He was treated by emergency services at the scene and taken to hospital but pronounced dead shortly after.
The police investigation found that four people had confronted Mr Kinyua outside the address he was staying at in Crescent Road.
Two of those, including the 17-year-old boy, were seen on CCTV carrying large knives and lunging at Mr Kinyua, stabbing him several times.
Mr Kinyua made his way on to the main road before he collapsed.
A postmortem gave the cause of death as stab wounds to both the neck and chest.
The 17-year-old boy was arrested around a week later.
The other attacker armed with a knife is believed to have fled the country hours after the stabbing, said police.
The two others who were at the scene - Malcolm Mangawa, 23, of Verde Close, Luton, and Shakeel Morton, 20, of Upwell Road, Luton - were found not guilty of murder at Luton Crown Court.
Sentencing is due to take place later in November.
Det Insp Iain MacPherson, of the Bedfordshire Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire major crime unit, who led the investigation, said: "This was an incredibly violent, calculated, and abhorrent crime, which has not only seen a young man lose his life, but left another teenager facing life behind bars.
"The incident that led to Mr Kinyua’s death affected the local community and partner agencies in many ways.
"Knife crime remains an area of concern and priority across the country, but more locally we have all too recently seen mindless violence claim another young life in Luton.
"I am pleased that our investigation has resulted in a conviction and hope this serves as a warning and reiteration of our zero-tolerance towards knife crime and violence of any kind."
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