Guilty verdict over fight on fatal night

Tobias Blake, aged 20, has also been found guilty of a charge of having an offensive weapon on the night tragic 16-year-old Ben was killed outside a party at a club in Smethwick.

Blake, from Kelsall Croft, Ladywood, Birmingham, was involved in the violence on July 28 last year. Blake was one of five men who have been on trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court for violent disorder in relation to the incident over the past eight weeks, and yesterday after more than nine hours of deliberations, the jury returned their guilty verdicts for him.

He has now been remanded in custody until a sentencing hearing, set for September 20.

Meanwhile verdicts on the further four defendants have not yet been returned, and the jury are continuing their discussions.

Earlier in the trial another defendant, 18-year-old Andy Ly, of Fulmer Walk, Ladywood, had a plea of manslaughter accepted. He had originally been on trial for murder, but that charge was ordered to lie on file.

A charge of murder against another defendant, Omar Robinson, 19, of Rann Close, also Ladywood, was dropped and he was told he had no case to answer.

But both Ly and Robinson pleaded guilty to violent disorder, and they will also be sentenced at a later date.

Ben, of Holden Crescent, Coalpool, Walsall, died from a stab wound to his leg, with witnesses in the trial claiming up to 80 men chased him before he was killed.

He attended an 18th birthday party and was found on grass near to Smethwick Old Guards and Comrades Club. He later died in Birmingham Children's Hospital.

The other defendants in the case, Kwamae Phillips, 18, of Gillott Road, Edgbaston; Jordan Campbell, 18, of Portland Road, Edgbaston; Tahj Mills, 18, of Waterside Street, West Bromwich; and Aaron Parkins, 19, whose address cannot be reported for legal reasons, all deny violent disorder.

During the trial it has been claimed by a number of witnesses that Ben was killed after trying to defend one of his friends from a group of youths during a fracas. Earlier in the trial an eyewitness to events on the night told the jury he had seen two separate fights in the run up to his death.

The anonymous witness, who was using the name Jordan Miles and whose voice was disguised, said that a group of people were attacking Ben, while another group were attacking one of his friends.

He said he later saw a 'Chinese' lad with a patch of blood on his T-shirt, walking back towards the club with a black man. He said: "The tall black guy told the Chinese guy to remove his shirt and get rid of it."