Friends of footballer Cody Fisher have paid tribute to him, laying flowers outside the Crane nightclub, and calling his loss “a hole that can’t be filled”.
Two men have been arrested on suspicion of murder over the stabbing of the 23-year-old in a Birmingham nightclub on Boxing Day.
One friend, James Behan, told Sky News: “The impact it’s had on myself, family and friends… We were part of a friendship group that has a hole now that can’t be filled. I was out the night it happened, and it hit me like a ton of bricks.”
He went on: “He had an infectious smile, a love for life, his friends, football, his family. And it’s just tragic. Just horrendous.”
Kelsey Mooney, who said he was out with Mr Fisher just two nights before on Christmas Eve, told Sky News: “Anyone that knew him wouldn’t say a bad word about him. That’s the thing, he was just in the wrong place, at the wrong time.”
Mr Mooney said he woke up to a phone call from one of his friends, telling him: “Code’s dead”.
Following the two arrests, police said a 22-year-old man was held at an address in Birmingham city centre just after midnight on Wednesday while a second man aged 21 was arrested in London.
West Midlands Police have said the men will be questioned.
Mr Behan also hit out the security on the night at Crane nightclub, which cancelled a New Year’s Eve party following the incident, saying: “It’s very easy to cancel future sets and future nights, but the security and checks need to be stepped up massively for events like this… There just needed to be a lot more… Something like this could have been prevented, massively.”
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In response to previous suggestions that security on the night was inadequate, the nightclub said: “We have a thorough search policy in place for any and all patrons entering and leaving the venue. This includes the deployment of metal detectors, pat downs, pocket checks, wallet inspections, bag searches and age verification procedures.
“Searches are conducted in accordance with SIA (Security Industry Authority) guidance and best practice. The venue is patrolled by SIA security staff whom responded to the incident as it unfolded on the night…
“On Boxing Day we had an onsite paramedic led team as per our venue policy, who arrived at the scene quickly to administer first aid to the victim until the arrival of the Ambulance Service.”
The club also said they had provided “relevant CCTV” to West Midlands Police and were assisting them with their inquiries.
Mr Fisher was stabbed on the dancefloor of the Crane nightclub in the Digbeth area of Birmingham just before 11.45pm on Monday.
Despite efforts to save him, he was pronounced dead around half an hour later.
Police said Mr Fisher had been on a night out with friends when he was approached by a group of people and stabbed.
Mr Fisher’s family said in a statement after his death: “I have lost my best friend. My family and I are asking for privacy and respectfulness at this heartbreaking time.”
Woodrow First School and Nursery, where Mr Fisher worked as a sports coach, said in a tribute on Wednesday: “Our school community is devastated with this news. Cody had a wonderful way of bringing sport to children, with a contagious smile – always smiling.
“Cody was a fabulous role model – kind, patient, and full of cheer. Our children loved working with him – they would say he was their favourite coach.
“They really gained from the values he placed on teamwork and co-operation. He made time for every one of the children and the staff. He made PE ‘cool’.”
Mr Fisher played for Stratford Town FC, who are in the Southern League Premier Division Central. He had also played for Bromsgrove Sporting.
Stratford Town’s chairman, Jed McCrory, told Sky News that “everyone is devastated by the news” and described Mr Fisher as a “talented footballer” and a “lovely, lovely young man”.
One of Mr Fisher’s friends, who played with him last season at Bromsgrove, told Sky News: “He was genuinely one of the nicest people you could hope to meet. He’d do anything for you.”
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‘Speechless’: Tribute to Cody Fisher
Police appealed for anyone who may have information that can help their investigation to contact them.
DCI Ian Ingram, from the West Midlands Police homicide team, said after the arrests: “We’re making good progress in our investigation and are building a better picture of what happened.
“We’ve been really pleased with the response from the public and have already had a number of witness accounts and images sent through, which will help with our investigation.
“It’s vital that we hear from everybody who saw any part of what happened that night – no matter how insignificant they think it might be.
“Cody’s family and friends are devastated by what happened, and we’ll continue to work to bring them answers.”
Footage of the moment 10-year-old Sara Sharif’s alleged killers were detained after police boarded their plane back to the UK has been played in court.
As they are approached by officers, Sara‘sstepmother Beinash Batool is heard saying: “I think you’re looking for us.”
Batool, 30, Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, 42, and uncle Faisal Malik, 29, are accused of carrying out a campaign of abuse against her culminating in her death at her family home in Surreyon 8 August last year.
The defendants, along with five of Sara’s siblings, aged between one and 13, flew to Pakistanthe following day.
Sara’s body was found by police in a bunkbed on 10 August after Sharif called police from Pakistan to say he had beaten her “too much” for being “naughty”.
A murder investigation was launched involving agencies including Interpol and the National Crime Agency to locate the defendants.
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They returned to the UK on a flight from Dubai to Gatwick Airport on 13 September.
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2:38
‘I beat her up too much’
The clips of officers’ body-worn video shown to the jury on Friday captured the moment police boarded the plane and detained the defendants at 7.42pm, seven minutes after touchdown.
After Batool addresses the officers, Sharif, who had been sitting next to her, is asked to follow them.
The three were then taken off the plane and arrested.
A post-mortem examination established Sara had sustained extensive and significant injuries over a sustained period prior to her death.
The jury heard on Friday how concerns were raised by Sara’s school about bruising on her body in June 2022 and March 2023.
Several items seized from Sara’s home were also reviewed by the court, including a leather belt which had full DNA samples at both ends for Sara, Sharif, and Malik.
A cricket bat was also found to have Sara’s DNA profile on it, along with the DNA samples of Sharif and Malik.
Neither item had a DNA trace of Batool.
The court also reviewed the defendants’ bank accounts – both joint and separate.
All three defendants have pleaded not guilty to murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.
Six teenagers have been arrested after a 13-year-old girl was found with multiple stab wounds on a roadside near Hull.
Police said she was found around 6.50am on the A63 in Hessle with “life-threatening injuries” including “lacerations to her neck, abdomen, chest and back”.
Four boys and two girls – aged between 14 and 17 – were quickly arrested in a nearby wooded area and are being questioned on suspicion of attempted murder.
Members of the public came to the girl’s aid before emergency services arrived, Humberside Police said.
Detective Superintendent Simon Vickers said they “believe the attackers knew the victim” and the circumstances are still being investigated.
“The girl remains in hospital in critical condition and her family are being supported by officers at this difficult time,” he added.
The boys arrested are aged 14, 15, 16 and 17, and the girls 14 and 15.
Cordons are in place around a wooded area off Ferriby High Road while investigations continue.
Police said they would have an increased presence in the area over the weekend and have asked anyone with information or video to get in touch, or contact Crimestoppers anonymously.
A former soldier has told a jury his escape from Wandsworth prison to avoid being held with sex offenders and terrorists showed his “skillset”.
Daniel Khalife, 23, who was being held accused of passing secrets to Iran said he was “never a real spy” but planned a fake defection to the state following his arrest after watching American television show Homeland.
He said he wanted to be moved to a high-security unit because he was getting unwanted attention from the sex offenders on the vulnerable prisoners wing and feared a move to Belmarsh prison because, as a British soldier, terrorists wanted to kill him.
Khalife said he first wanted to “make a show” of escaping, acting suspiciously and covering himself in soot from a food delivery lorry on 21 August last year, while he was working in the prison kitchen.
He was spotted and reported to security but was “pretty shocked” when nothing happened so decided to take the “full measure,” he told the jury.
Talking about his escape for the first time at his Woolwich Crown Court trial, Khalife told how he fashioned a makeshift sling from kitchen trousers and carabiners used by inmates to keep their possessions safe from rats.
He attached it to the Bidfood lorry on 1 September last year, to see if it would be spotted by officers at Wandsworth or other prisons on the delivery route.
“I put the two carabiners and the makeshift rope underneath the lorry,” he said.
“When I had made the decision to actually leave the prison I was going to do it properly so I tested the security not just in Wandsworth
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“Strangely, over the coming days, I could see it but it wasn’t spotted in Wandsworth or any other prison.”
Then on the morning of 6 September, Khalife said he concealed himself underneath the lorry, resting his back on the sling as the lorry was searched.
“They did normal checks around with torches but they didn’t find me. After that, a governor came to the tunnel and said, ‘Have you searched the vehicle?’
“I was facing upwards. There was action around the lorry.”
He said that when the vehicle stopped he “came out underneath the lorry and stayed in the prone position” until the lorry moved off.
Khalife, who joined the Army aged 16 and took up a post with the Royal Signals, based in Beacons barracks, Staffordshire, said he made no attempt to leave the country and had no intention to “run away” from the charges he was facing.
He was arrested three days later on the footpath of the Grand Union Canal in Northolt, west London, after a nationwide manhunt.
Asked why he had not handed himself in after his escape, Khalife said: “I was finally demonstrating what a foolish idea it was to have someone of my skillset in prison. What use was that to anyone?”
“I accept that I left the prison and didn’t have any permission to do so,” he said. “I accept absolutely that I shouldn’t have done what I did.”
Inspired by Homeland
The court has heard Khalife initiated contact with Iranian intelligence officers after he was told he could not pass developed vetting because his mother was born in Iran.
Khalife told MI5 he wanted to be a “double agent” and he said in court he thought he would be “congratulated” but described his arrest as like a “punch in the face”.
Wearing a blue checked shirt and chinos, he said police were “blinded at the prospect of a successful prosecution” but he did not think being in prison would be in “the public interest”.
“I didn’t do anything that harmed our national security. I wanted to put myself in a position where I could help my country,” he said.
“I believed I could continue my work actually located in the state – the state being Iran.”
Khalife said he took inspiration from watching Homeland, starring Claire Danes and Damian Lewis, in which Americans and terrorists go undercover, on Netflix.
“I had seen one of the characters in the programme had actually falsely defected to a particular country and utilised that position to further the national security interests of that character’s country,” he said.
“The country in question, Iran, thought it was real. She did it to further the interests of her own country.”
Khalife told jurors he is a “patriot”, adding: “I do love my country. All I wanted to do was help. I never wanted to do any harm, I never did do any harm.”
He added: “It is tragic it has come to this and I would do anything to go back to my career.”
Khalife, from Kingston, southwest London, denies a charge of committing an act prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state under the Official Secrets Act between 1 May 2019 and 6 January 2022.
He has also pleaded not guilty to a charge under the Terrorism Act of eliciting information about Armed Forces personnel on 2 August 2021, perpetrating a bomb hoax on or before 2 January 2023 and escaping from prison on 6 September last year.