Cody Fisher: Two men jailed for life for murdering footballer in Birmingham nightclub dancefloor stabbing
Two men have been jailed for life after murdering a semi-professional footballer on a nightclub dancefloor in Birmingham.
Remy Gordon and Kami Carpenter fatally stabbed Cody Fisher on Boxing Day in 2022 after a minor altercation two days earlier.
Gordon will serve a minimum of 26 years, while Carpenter will spend at least 25 years behind bars.
During the trial, jurors were told that Mr Fisher had made brief and “unavoidable” contact with Mr Gordon’s back as he left a club in Solihull on Christmas Eve.
The 23-year-old – who played for Stratford Town and Bromsgrove Sporting – was stabbed in the chest at the Crane nightclub in Digbeth and died at the scene from a chest wound.
Cody Fisher was fatally stabbed on Boxing Day in 2022 after a minor altercation two days earlier. Pic: Bromsgrove Sporting FC
He was attacked with a weapon that had been smuggled through security, in what was described as a pre-planned “act of retribution” after the previous minor incident at a Popworld nightclub in Solihull.
Gordon and Carpenter, who had denied the charges against them, had blamed each other for the fatal stabbing and were convicted last month.
Judge Paul Farrer KC said today that Gordon believed he had been “disrespected”, which led to the incident on Boxing Day.
He added that a group of three to four people – including Gordon and Carpenter – surrounded Mr Fisher at the Crane club.
The judge then said the attack “lasted no more than 37 seconds,” and involved punches “including a blow to the face of sufficient force to fracture the back of Mr Fisher’s jaw, on both sides”.
“In short, this was a sustained attack on a man who was significantly outnumbered and stood little or no chance of defending himself,” he said.
The 23-year-old – who played for Stratford Town and Bromsgrove Sporting – was stabbed in the chest at the Crane nightclub in Digbeth
Prosecutor Michael Duck KC previously told the court: “Cody Fisher it seems did little more than touch Remy Gordon’s back. Remy Gordon was looking for an argument with somebody.”
Mr Duck also said Gordon was later captured on CCTV in a pizza takeaway restaurant “re-enacting the attack… and laughing while he did so,” and said that Gordon and Carpenter sought to evade arrest.
In a victim impact statement, Cody’s mother Tracey said his family’s “life sentences” started on the day he was killed, which she described as the “most heartbreaking day in all of our lives”.
She described her son as “brave, fearless and the most genuine soul” she knew.
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‘Never any forgiveness’
Addressing Gordon and Carpenter, she said there can “never be any forgiveness for what they have done to us”, saying: “It is as though I too was stabbed straight through the heart.
“I have seen myself go from the happiest outgoing person, to fighting the hell out of just getting through each and every horrendous, never ending, day, in the abhorrent knowledge that my youngest son, my best friend, is never coming home to sleep in his bedroom, the room that I still cannot enter even to this day.”
Jessica Chatwin, who was Mr Fisher’s girlfriend, told the court the 23-year-old died in her arms and added: “My life stopped that day, I live each day with enormous pain, loneliness and sadness.
“I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with Cody. Now I have to face the world without his love and guidance, something he always showed me while we were together.
“He was my strength in every situation and now I have to face it all alone.”
Police outside the Crane nightclub in Digbeth. Pic: PA
‘Our grief will go on’
Speaking outside the court, Tracey said that “the sentence passed is somewhat a blessing that they are no longer on streets, and can hopefully go somewhat to try and eradicate this awful epidemic that is ruining so many lives”.
She added: “For us as a family, Cody will still not come home and we will forever live in the shadow of his senseless murder.
“I know that our grief will go on and we will continue with our life sentence, missing our child each and every day.”
Fellow defendant Reegan Anderson, 19, of no fixed address, was found not guilty of murder and not guilty of an alternative charge of manslaughter.
He was found guilty of affray and was bailed until a sentencing hearing after Easter.
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The Crane nightclub has since been permanently shut down after West Midlands Police said the venue posed “terrifying risks” to the public, with “blatant” drug use and “inadequate” security.
UK
‘I was told this was a wonder drug but not warned about the deathly consequences’: 100 faces of infected blood scandal
“Losing Gary, my soul mate, was beyond painful,” says Kathryn Croucher, whose husband died aged 42 in 2010.
“Every day was a struggle dealing with the knowledge he was HIV and Hepatitis C positive.”
“Mum always said she was given a death sentence,” recalls Ronan Fitzgerald. His mother, Jane, died aged 54 after being infected with Hepatitis C when she was 16. “It was a ticking time bomb.”
Updates:
Scandal was ‘not an accident’
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The faces of the infected blood scandal.
More than 30,000 Britons were infected with HIV and Hepatitis C after being given contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.
Around 3,000 people have died as a result of the scandal, while many more still live under the shadow of health problems, debilitating treatments and stigma. Now, the findings of a public inquiry, first announced in 2017, will finally be published.
These are 100 faces of infected blood victims that either they, or their families, have shared with Sky News.
Click the images to read their stories.
Sky News will have full coverage of the infected blood report on TV, online and on the Sky News app today.
Sky News would like to thank everyone who contributed to this project.
Julian Assange will be allowed to appeal against his extradition to the United States.
Two judges responded today to US assurances that Mr Assange will not face the death penalty – and can rely on the First Amendment right to free speech if he faced a trial for spying.
The WikiLeaks founder faces prosecution in the US over an alleged conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defence information after the publication of hundreds of thousands of leaked documents relating to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on the balcony of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2017. Pic: Reuters
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in a police van after being arrested in London in 2019. Pic: Reuters
Edward Fitzgerald KC, representing Assange, criticised the assurances of Joe Biden’s US administration at the hearing. He said: “Based on the principle of the separation of powers, the US court can and will apply US law, whatever the executive may say or do.”
He added most of the promises were “blatantly inadequate” – but they had accepted the promise about the death penalty.
In written submissions, the barrister said while the assurance over the death penalty was “an unambiguous executive promise”, the other assurance does not give “any reliable promise as to future action”.
The barrister added: “What needs to be conclusively removed is the risk that he will be prevented from relying on the first amendment on grounds of nationality.”
But James Lewis KC, representing the US government, insisted the “judicial branch of the United States will take due notice of this solemn assurance given by its government in the course of international relations”.
In written submissions, he said there is “no question” that Assange, if extradited, “will be entitled to the full panoply of due process trial rights, including the right to raise, and seek to rely upon, the first amendment as a defence”.
He later told the court: “The assurance does make it clear that he will not be discriminated against because of his nationality.
“He can and will be able to raise all those arguments and his nationality will not prejudice a fair trial.”
Today’s decision is the latest chapter in 13 years of legal battles and detentions for Australian-born Mr Assange.
Supporters of Mr Assange have been gathering outside the High Court. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
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The US authorities want to put Mr Assange on trial over 18 charges, nearly all under the Espionage Act.
They claim his actions with WikiLeaks were reckless, damaged national security, and endangered the lives of agents.
During a two-day hearing in February, lawyers for Mr Assange asked for permission to challenge a judge’s dismissal of the majority of his case to prevent his extradition.
In March, Dame Victoria Sharp and Mr Justice Johnson dismissed most of Mr Assange’s legal arguments – but said unless assurances were given by the US, he would be able to bring an appeal on three grounds.
These assurances are that Assange would be protected by and allowed to rely on the First Amendment – which protects freedom of speech in the US – that he is not “prejudiced at trial” due to his nationality, and that the death penalty is not imposed.
Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Supporters of Mr Assange have already been gathering outside the High Court to continue their calls for his release.
Mr Assange is currently being held in London’s high security Belmarsh prison.
Detectives are on the hunt for two men following a fatal stabbing in Glasgow at the weekend.
Police Scotland said the force received a report of a man being attacked and stabbed in Saracen Street, Possil, at around 5pm on Saturday.
Emergency services attended and took the 27-year-old victim to the city’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, where he later died.
The death is being treated as “suspicious” ahead of the completion of a post-mortem examination.
Investigating officers have since established that two men were involved in the attack.
The suspects have been described as white and in their 30s.
One was wearing a light-blue top and black shorts, while the other was dressed in a white top, black shorts and black trainers.
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Officers have been gathering and reviewing CCTV footage from in and around the neighbourhood as the probe continues.
Additional patrols have also been mobilised to the area, and anyone with information or concerns can approach these officers.
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Detective Inspector Lesley-Ann McGee said: “It was a warm, sunny day and there were lots of people out enjoying the weather in Saracen.
“I am asking them to get in touch with us with any information that could assist us in establishing the motive for this attack. If you saw, heard or know anything please contact us.
“I’m also asking people with dashcam or doorbell recording equipment to check for any footage that could assist our investigation.
“A family is mourning the loss of a loved one and it’s imperative we are able to answer how their loved one died.”
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