18-year-old is found guilty of stabbing Aston Villa youth player to death

A teenager was convicted of stabbing to death a youth Aston Villa player after a fight broke out when his friend ‘tried out’ with the footballer’s girlfriend at a house party.

Sukhbir Singh-Phull, 18, plunged a blade into the chest of 16-year-old Premier League star Ramani Morgan, after a street fight broke out on February 29.

A court heard the couple clashed after Phull’s friend “tried out” on Ramani’s girlfriend at the party in Coventry.

Ramani was rushed to hospital with multiple stab wounds after being brutally attacked, but was pronounced dead shortly before midnight.

Phull and a 17-year-old man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, went to trial on murder charges at Warwick Crown Court.

Sukhbir Singh-Phull (left), 18, was found guilty today at Warwick Crown Court of stabbing Aston Villa youth player Ramani Morgan (right), 16, to death at a party in Coventry on 29 February.

Today, Phull was found guilty of murder and faces life in prison, while the young man was acquitted of the same charge by a jury.

Phull, of Binley Road, Coventry, will be sentenced at a later date.

The trial heard how a fight broke out between Phull and Ramani after his co-defendant started flirting with the victim’s girlfriend.

He had also previously rejected an alcoholic beverage prepared by his alleged killers for fear that it might have been added.

The girl who was hosting the party at the house fired everyone because she feared the property would be ‘trashed’.

At that moment, Phull whispered something in Ramani ear and told him to “get out”, where a fight broke out in the street.

The teenager was stabbed four times, including in the cheek and once in the chest, before collapsing in a pool of blood after trying to flee.

Ramani, who played for the Villa and Walsall youth teams, was unable to save himself even though an air ambulance medic managed to briefly revive him at the scene.

When the teens were arrested the next day, officers found Phull’s North Face jacket, containing Ramani’s blood, at the 17-year-old’s home.

He responded “without comment” in interviews with police before finally being charged with murder.

Police officers and coroners on Clay Lane in Coventry after Ramani was stabbed to death at the party

Police sealed both scenes for a fingertip search and forensic examination. They are photographed in Clay Lane

Ramani’s family said in a statement after the verdict: ‘No sentence will suffice and nothing can bring Ramani back or ease our pain.

‘We don’t want something like this to happen to another family. It is necessary to send a clear message so that no other family should go through what we have been through. ”

The family previously said in a tribute: ‘Ramani was very kind, caring and humble and had a beautiful soul.

“He had the potential to become a professional footballer. Ramani had many hopes and dreams and had his whole life ahead of him.

‘Ramani was the best son, brother, grandson, nephew and cousin that anyone could wish for. Ramani was loved by all who knew him. ‘