A man has been found guilty of murdering Tyson Fury’s cousin during a bar brawl.
Liam O’Pray fatally stabbed Rico Burton, cousin of the world heavyweight boxing champion, outside a bar in Altrincham, Cheshire.
The 22-year-old slashed at 31-year-old Burton with a seven-inch knife after violence erupted between two groups of men in the early hours of August 22 last year.
Liam O’Pray, pictured, killed Rico Burton and intentionally wounded Harvey Reilly
Burton (left), the cousin of boxer Tyson Fury (right), died after being stabbed in the neck outside a bar in Altrincham
Mr Burton died of massive blood loss after a knife almost completely severed the major carotid artery in his neck, while a second man, Harvey Reilly, 18, was also stabbed in the same incident, Manchester Crown Court heard.
O’Pray had a previous conviction for carrying a knife in public in 2019, but the defendant had lied to the jury: “I am not a violent person.”
Damned CCTV played in the courtroom showed a fight between the defendant’s friends and Mr. Burton’s family and friends in Goose Green, a bar courtyard.
O’Pray had previously been refused entry to a bar and it is alleged that a doorman told him he was a professional boxer and would come back and ‘give him a problem’, which he denied.
Door staff and witnesses described the defendant as a “loose cannon” and “very erratic.”
At 3 a.m., a witness told the court that “absolute chaos” erupted when O’Prey’s boyfriend, Malachi Hewitt-Brown, was beaten by Mr. Burton’s cousin, Chasiah Burton.
Mr. Burton then also took aim at Mr. Hewitt-Brown.
A second later, O’Pray struck the fatal blow with the knife to the left side of Rico Burton’s neck, the court heard.
A police cordon and uniformed officers stand outside a bar in Goose Green, Altrincham, in the early hours of 22 August last year
Flagged police cars and vans on the streets of Altrincham after the incident on August 22 last year
Michael Brady KC, Prosecutor, asked the defendant, “Did you take the knife out of your pocket and expose the blade before a blow was struck?”
‘Did you warn anyone? Did you say, “I have a knife, go away”? Did you wave it?’
O’Pray said, ‘Everyone was in my face. I didn’t say a word. I was surrounded by them. I just responded.’
Mr Brady added: ‘This is just standard for you, going out, drinking, being violent.’
The prosecution suggested that O’Pray “almost always carried a knife.”
But O’Pray told the jury about a month before the fatal incident that he was left covered in blood ‘from head to toe’ during a fight, kicked and stabbed in the hand after his £500 hat was taken off.
The defendant said he bought the knife because he was “worried” after the July incident and to “defend myself” because he had been beaten up.
He also said he had used the knife as a tool in his job as a navvies.
O’Pray, of 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 occupying the public gallery shouted ‘yes’ as the guilty verdict was pronounced.
O’Pray in the dock did not respond.
He was also found guilty of intentionally wounding by cutting and stabbing Harvey Reilly, 17 at the time and now 18, during the same incident in the early hours of Sunday morning on August 22 last year.
The trial was told the trouble started after a fight between the defendant’s friends and Mr Burton’s family and friends at Goose Green, a bar courtyard in Altrincham, Cheshire.
Judge Alan Conrad KC said he will pass sentence on Aug. 4, though the defendant faces a mandatory life sentence for murder.