Man found guilty of murdering Tyson Fury's cousin

A man has been found guilty of murdering the cousin of world heavyweight boxing champion Tyson Fury with a single blow from a knife during a brawl outside a bar.

Liam O’Pray, 22, used a lock-knife to stab Rico Burton, 31, in the neck, Manchester Crown Court heard.

A jury previously heard that O'Pray had armed himself with a lock knife, which he plunged into Mr Burton's neck during a 3am brawl outside King Pong bar.

The wound 'almost completely divided' a major artery in Mr Burton's neck, causing 'a massive, fatal haemorrhage'.

However, no one was being allowed entry to the bar due to a 'previous, unrelated incident'.

After being turned away by the bar's manager, O'Pray became aggressive and threatened to 'blow the place up'.

He tried to force his way into the bar several times claiming he had lost his phone, but was repeatedly ejected by bouncers.

One witness described O'Pray as a 'loose cannon' and said she saw him 'pushing girls about in his efforts to find his phone'.

Shortly afterwards, O'Pray and another man became embroiled in an argument with a group of people outside the bar.

O'Pray and the man were moved away but they both kept 'going on about the phone'. In an attempt to appease them, a bouncer promised to look for it but when they tried to follow her into the bar, she told them they would have to come back the next day.

That caused O'Pray to 'go mad' and he again tried to get into the bar before being restrained.

In the meantime, a brawl broke out. During the melee, which one witness described as 'absolute chaos', jurors heard that Mr Burton's cousin, Chasiah, had twice punched O’Pray’s friend in the head.

As Mr Burton threw a punch at him, O'Pray plunged the knife into the side of his neck. After being punched to the head by another man, he began 'indiscriminatingly waving the knife backwards and forwards', slashing Mr Reilly to his arm and chest.

O'Pray was then punched again and fell to the ground unconscious. A member of staff at a nearby bar went to assist O'Pray and found the bloodied knife under his right hand.

Witnesses tried to stem Mr Burton's bleeding before he collapsed to the floor. Police and paramedics were called to the scene and Mr Burton was rushed to hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 4.35am.

O’Pray, from Swinton, Salford, was found guilty of murder by a jury of seven women and five men after three and a half hours of deliberations following a three-week trial.

Relatives of Mr Burton who packed the public gallery shouted “yes” as the guilty verdict was delivered.

O’Pray in the dock made no reaction.

He was also found guilty of wounding with intent by slashing and stabbing Harvey Reilly, 17 at the time and now 18, during the same incident in the early hours of Sunday morning on 22 August last year.

The trial was told trouble began after a fight between the defendant’s friends and Mr Burton’s family and friends at Goose Green, a courtyard of bars in Altrincham, Cheshire.

Judge Alan Conrad KC said he will pass sentence on 4 August, though the defendant faces a mandatory life sentence for murder.

Judge Conrad commended the police officers who dashed to the scene to find the injured men and said they were “instrumental” in saving the life of Mr Reilly.

O’Pray already had a conviction for carrying a knife in public before the murder.

Outside court, Sarah Reilly, the teenager’s mother, said: “I just want to say a huge thanks to the police. The families are going to put time and strength and effort into campaigning against knife crime.

“It is every day. It needs to stop. There are laws and legislation that exists that are not being used, it needs to be policed more robustly.”