Two teens have convictions over killing of rapper, 16, at birthday party quashed

Two teens jailed over the killing of a ‘promising’ rapper at a packed 16th birthday party have had their manslaughter convictions quashed.

Cartel Bushnell and Leo Knight were serving nine years in youth detention after being found guilty of the manslaughter of 16-year-old Mikey Roynon.

Mikey was fatally stabbed in the neck with a large knife during a house party in Bath, Somerset, in June 2023.

Fellow teenager Shane Cunningham was convicted of murder and detained for life with a minimum term of 16 years.

Cunningham, Bushnell and Knight, who were all 16 at the time of the murder sought to challenge their convictions at the Court of Appeal in May this year.

A Bristol Crown Court trial heard he was stabbed in the garden and collapsed on the driveway, with two weapons later recovered by police.

The first knife, which was found in a drain, was nearly 10in (25cm) long, and scientists found Mikey’s blood on the blade.

The second knife, which was recovered from underneath a hedge, was 7in (18cm) long and had traces of Mikey’s airborne blood on the blade – meaning it was close to the victim when he was stabbed.

During the trial, Cunningham, of Devizes, Wiltshire, claimed he was acting in self-defence when he stabbed Mikey after claiming his victim had swung a knife towards his friends in the garden.

Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, Mr Justice Bryan and Mr Justice Cavanagh quashed Bushnell and Knight’s convictions, while dismissing Cunningham’s appeal bid in a ruling that month.

The ruling could not be reported because of a retrial scheduled to begin in November, but on Thursday, the three judges said the prosecution had ‘offered no evidence’ in either case, meaning reporting restrictions could be lifted.

In their judgment, Baroness Carr said there had been an ‘accidental, but critical, error’ in directions given to the jury around how to reach their verdict, making the convictions ‘unsafe’.

Hayley Ryall, Roynon’s mother, told Bristol Crown Court that her only child was killed when she was away for the night.

‘Everyone was telling me Mikey was hurt and had died,’ Ryall, a Slimming World consultant, said. ‘I was sick. I didn’t believe it. I told everyone they were lying.

‘I remember the three-hour silent car journey home. I prayed the entire way that this was a mistake. I remember seeing the police and forensics at the scene and thought they had still got it wrong.’

In an unusual move in the original trial, Mr Justice Saini ruled that Cunningham, Bushnell and Knight could be identified at their sentencing hearing despite their ages.

Passing sentence, the judge said Mikey’s ‘future looked promising’ and that his family had suffered a ‘loss which is unimaginable’.

He said Bristol and the surrounding areas ‘are in the middle of a plague of knife crime’.

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