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.
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.
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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.
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.
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.”
‘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 sincebeen permanently shut down after West Midlands Police said the venue posed “terrifying risks” to the public, with “blatant” drug use and “inadequate” security.
Davina McCall has said her short-term memory is “a bit remiss” as she recovers from brain tumour surgery.
Speaking from her bed, the visibly emotional TV presenterposted a short video updating her Instagram followers on her condition, saying it had been a “mad” time.
She expressed an “enormous heartfelt thank you” to people who had messaged her after she revealed this month she had a benign brain tumour, a colloid cyst, which she described as “very rare”.
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Looking bright, but with a visibly bruised left eye, McCall said: “My short-term memory is a bit remiss.
“But that is something I can work on, so I’m really happy about that. I’m writing everything down, to keep myself feeling safe.”
She added: “It’s been mad, and it’s just really nice to be back home, I’m on the other side.”
In a message posted with the video, she reiterated her thanks for all the support she has received, adding: “Had a great night’s sleep in my own bed. Have a couple of sleeps during the day which keeps my brain clear… Slowly, slowly…”
When she first shared her diagnosis, she said chances of having it were “three in a million” and that she had discovered it several months previously after a company offered her a health scan in return for giving a menopause talk.
The 57-year-old star said support from her fans had “meant the world”.
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She said she was being “brilliantly looked after” by her partner, hairdresser Michael Douglas, and her stepmother, Gabby, who she calls mum.
Becoming tearful, the presenter said: “I’d quickly like to say big up the stepmums. I don’t really say thank you to Gabby enough. She’s been an amazing rock my whole life.”
McCall was estranged from her birth mother, Florence McCall, who died in 2008.
With a catch in her voice, McCall went on: “I’ve got a massive dose of vitamin G – I’m just really grateful. I’ve always been really lucky in my life, but I feel unbelievably grateful right now. So, thanks for everything, all of you.
“I’m on the mend, I’m resting and sleeping loads and I feel really good. I’m just very lucky.”
Stars including presenter Alison Hammond, singer Craig David and radio host Zoe Ball quickly shared their delight at the positive update.
McCall rose to fame presenting on MTV in the mid-1990s, and later on Channel 4’s Streetmate, before becoming a household name as the host of Big Brother from 2000 to 2010.
She’s gone on to present programmes across the networks, the most recent being ITV dating show My Mum, Your Dad.
Last year, McCall was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting.
Married twice, McCall has three children, two daughters and a son, with her second husband, presenter Matthew Robertson.
She has lived with Douglas since 2022, and they present a weekly lifestyle podcast together, Making The Cut.
In central Scotland, wind speeds of 50-60mph are likely, and gusts up to 70mph could be felt near the coast and on exposed bridges.
Met Office chief meteorologist Andy Page said that while the risk of snowfall had now diminished, rainfall would “affect much of the UK”.
Frequent showers are expected in Northern Ireland, northern England, Wales and the West Country, with the heaviest expected in southwestern parts of England and South Wales.
Mr Page said weather warnings “could still be amended” and possibly at short notice, and urged people to “keep up to date with the very latest forecast”.
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Sky News meteorologist Christopher England warns there could be a risk of hail and thunder in northern Scotland, at the start of the week.
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Storm Bert causes flooding in Wales
As of Monday morning, there were hundreds of flood warnings and alerts in place. Three of those – two in Wales and one in England – were “severe warnings”.
A further 160 flood warnings and more than 200 flood alerts were issued by the Environment Agency in England, and eight flood warnings and 23 flood alerts in place in Wales at the time of writing.
Bert to clear UK by Tuesday
By Tuesday, Storm Bert will finally clear the UK, the Met Office said, bringing with it “quieter weather for many”.
However, parts of the country may not be without rain or wind for long, as the forecaster says strong gusts and rainfall could start again on Tuesday night and into Wednesday.
“How long the more settled conditions last is uncertain, with rain probably returning to westernmost areas at least by the end of the week,” the Met Office website says.
Chris England adds: “Wednesday will bring strong winds and a spell of heavy rain across the south, while the north looks mostly fine after a frosty and foggy start in places.
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Woman loses umbrella to Storm Bert
“Thursday looks cool again, but mostly fine. Friday will be milder, with outbreaks of rain likely over Ireland, Northern Ireland and north-west Scotland.”
He says going into the weekend, Saturday “looks cloudy and breezy in the north and west, with a little rain possible at times”.
When could the next named storm be?
Storm Bert was the second named storm of the season after Storm Ashley brought similar wet and windy conditions towards the end of October.
Although it cannot be known for sure when the next storm will be, the Met Office already knows it will be referred to as Storm Conall. The forecaster names storms in alphabetical order.
It says it only names a storm when it has the “potential to cause disruption or damage which could result in an amber or red warning” and according to its long range forecast, this could be as soon as next month.
It says that between 9 and 23 December, “there are signs” there will be wetter and windier interludes with a risk of snow, adding: “These conditions look more likely to dominate towards the middle of December.”
Whether this will be strong enough for a storm to be named remains unknown.
Microsoft has said it is “investigating an issue” after users reported problems with Outlook and Teams.
In a post on X, Microsoft365 Status said: “We’re investigating an issue impacting users attempting to access Exchange Online or functionality within Microsoft Teams calendar.”
Microsoft Exchange Online is a platform for business communication that has a mail server and cloud apps for email, contacts, and calendars.
Down Detector, a website that tracks outages, said problems started at approximately 8am on Monday morning.
It said 87% of reported problems involved Outlook, when the email application is accessed through the web.
Other reported problems, according to Down Detector, included connection to the server and logging in.
Users from the UK and around, Europe took to social media to report they were having problems accessing the platform.
One user wrote: “When you need to check an important mail, but #outlook decides to not work…”
While another added: “Here in Belgium mainly issues with tracking of e-mail in Dynamics 365. Inbound and outbound in Outlook still work.”
Microsoft directed affected users to its admin centre, a page that is intended for those who have access to business networks and other professionals who manage IT networks. The page requires a login.