Cody Fisher: Girlfriend of nightclub stab victim tells jury 'I just wanted to help' during attack

The girlfriend of a footballer who was fatally stabbed on the dance floor of a Birmingham nightclub on boxing day has told a jury she 'just wanted to help' when she tried to intervene in the attack.

Jessica Chatwin gave evidence on Monday at Birmingham Crown Court, as three men stand trial charged with the murder of 23-year-old Cody Fisher.

She described having enjoyed the night out before an attack on her boyfriend left him on the floor with his 'eyes rolling to the back of his head.'

Mr Fisher died after being stabbed on the dance floor of Crane nightclub in Digbeth at around 11:40pm on 26 December 2022.

Remy Gordon, 23, Kami Carpenter, 22, and Reegan Anderson deny murder and a charge of affray.

Ms Chatwin told the court the night had been both normal and enjoyable until turning around on the dance floor to notice Cody was 'surrounded by people.'

She said: "Cody was stood behind me, and I just turned around and he was surrounded by people.

"Originally there was four, one in front, one behind and one either side.

"They kept asking for him to go outside - they repeated 'come outside, come outside.'

"One of them said, 'you don't f*** with my boys, they're my boys.'"

Ms Chatwin said she took Cody's neck chain from him, and his bag, because she thought the group were going to rob him.

She said the violence erupted after one of the men delivered a headbutt to Cody's forehead.

She told the jury: "Straight away they started to attack Cody, a few more came out of the crowd.

"There were probably another six or eight people that jumped in, in addition to the first four.

"At the beginning he was covering his head, but there were so many of them."

The prosecution, Michael Duck KC, asked Ms Chatwin if anyone else stepped in to help Cody, to which she replied that his friend Daniel Vann tried to help.

She added: "I remember seeing Dan jump in to help, but my eyes were on Cody so I didn’t see anything beyond that."

Daniel Vann previously gave evidence to the jury, describing how once he had intervened in the 'brawl', attention had turned on him too, and he was dragged away and kicked.

Ms Chatwin described how she had tried to help by striking someone in the group surrounding Cody.

She said: "There just was so many of them, and just Cody. I remember thinking I just wanted to help.

"It was a first reaction to try and get some of them off him."

At that point, the person Ms Chatwin had struck from behind, turned around.

"Turned around, looked me in the eye, but that was it. At that point, I noticed Cody was on the floor."

Ms Chatwin confirmed she rushed to Cody as soon as she saw him on the floor.

She said: "At first I thought he had just been knocked out, his eyes were rolling to the back of his head."

Mr Fisher's girlfriend tried to put him in the recovery position, and it was then she realised he had been wounded - and there was a knife in his body.

Ms Chatwin was allowed to remain in the club with Cody while the venue was evacuated, and told the jury it was a police officer who confirmed to her that he had tragically died.

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