Featured Image Credit: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images/Rico Burton/Facebook
Topics: UK News, Tyson Fury, Sport
Claire Reid
Topics: UK News, Tyson Fury, Sport
A man has been found guilty of murdering Tyson Fury’s cousin, Rico Burton, who was stabbed to death outside a bar last year.
Liam O’Pray, 22, denied stabbing Burton, 31, to death but was found guilty by a jury at Manchester Crown Court.
The court was told O’Pray, from Swinton in Salford, used a lockknife to stab Burton in the neck during a brawl outside a bar.
The knife’s seven-inch blade cut open the major carotid artery in Burton’s neck, causing massive blood loss.
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Burton was a cousin of heavyweight boxer Fury, who had previously taken to social media to express his disgust at the attack.
Fury tweeted: “My cousin was murdered last night.
“Stabbed in the neck, this is becoming ridiculous idiots carry knives. THIS NEEDS TO STOP.
“RIP RICO BURTON.”
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In a post on Instagram, Fury wrote: “This needs to stop, ASAP.
“[The] UK government needs to bring in higher sentencing for knife crime, it’s a pandemic and you don’t know how bad it is until it’s [one] of your own!
“Life is very precious and it can be taken away very quick, enjoy every moment.
“RIP Rico Burton, may the Lord God grant you a good place in heaven.
“See you soon.”
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The trial was told that trouble began after a fight between the defendant’s friends and Burton’s family and friends at Goose Green, a courtyard of bars in Altrincham, Cheshire.
O’Pray was found guilty of murder by the jury after three and a half hours of deliberations following a three-week trial.
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.
Relatives of Burton who were sat in the public gallery shouted, 'yes' as the guilty verdict was delivered.
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During the trial, O’Pray claimed he had ‘just reacted’ when he pulled out the knife.
Michael Brady KC, prosecuting, asked the defendant: “You got the knife out of your pocket and the blade exposed before any punch was thrown?
“Did you warn anyone? Did you say, ‘I have got a knife, get away’? Did you wave it about?”
O’Pray said: “Everyone was in my face. I didn’t say a word. I was surrounded by them. I just reacted.”
He will be sentenced on 4 August and is facing a mandatory life sentence.