Three boys guilty of stabbing teenager to death with zombie knife in birthday bloodbath

Three teenagers have been found guilty of fatally knifing a 16-year-old in the back of the neck at a birthday party last summer.

Mikey Roynon was stabbed with a zombie knife in the back garden of the 16th birthday party in the Weston area of Bath on 10 June. He tragically died at the scene.

Jurors at Bristol Crown Court heard one of the boys admit to stabbing Mikey but claimed it was after he had swung a knife towards his friends.

They were also asked to consider whether the boy’s two friends, also both aged 16, who were also charged with joint enterprise murder, were equally responsible for Mikey’s death.

Two of these friends were his two co-accused. Jurors were told they too were armed with substantial knives and were jointly responsible for the attack on Mikey.

The jury concluded the boy who stabbed Mikey was guilty of murder and his two friends were guilty of manslaughter.

A witness, one of the teenagers at the party, told the court he thought Mikey himself may have had a knife at the time he was stabbed, although he was only ‘60 per cent sure’.

But detectives found no other evidence in support of this claim.

The boy was initially treated as a witness until police recovered a knife with both his and Mikey’s DNA on. His clothes were also later forensically examined and found to have Mikey’s blood on.

DI Mark Newbury, the senior investigating officer, said: “That three boys armed themselves with knives to go to a teenage girl’s 16^th birthday party is utterly unconscionable.

“Mikey went to that party to socialise and to have a good time. Instead, he was attacked with a horrifying weapon, suffered a catastrophic injury and tragically lost his life.

“Mikey was a much loved teenage boy and his family have been left totally devastated. They have shown incredible bravery and have courageously spoken out against knife crime since his death, which is something they should never have to do.

“Since Mikey’s death other young lives have been lost across our policing area and as a result we have launched a proactive operation to tackle and disrupt serious violence and knife crime involving young people.”

All three will be sentenced at the same court on 3 May.