Bus passenger calls 999 as they hear Birmingham killer Gary O’Neill tell of fatal attack on his ‘best friend’

His associates believed that Gary O’Neill and Kenneth Ford were ‘best friends’.

But the friendship took a fatal turn when O’Neill violently attacked Mr Ford with a hammer at his bedsit on Colebrook Road in Sparkhill, Birmingham.

West Midlands Police found Mr Ford, aged 30, with West Midlands Ambulance Service paramedics with bruising and puncture wounds across his body, including a 10p size wound by his temple.  There was nothing which could be done to save Mr Ford and he was pronounced dead at the scene at 5.40pm on 27 February 2022.

Around the same time, a bus passenger called 999 to say they’d overheard a man on a phone telling how he’d ‘straightened Ken out’ and suggesting he needed an ambulance.  O’Neill, aged 32 had fled Birmingham the following morning - boarding a bus to Glasgow. 

When he got off the bus an officer from Police Scotland was waiting to arrest him. He was found wearing blood stained clothing and holding his Birmingham to Glasgow bus ticket. O’Neill, formerly of Kenilworth Road, Perry Barr, refused to answer any questions in interview. But DNA tests showed Mr Ford’s blood was on his joggers and phone analysis showed he was at the scene on the night of 27 February.

O'Neill was found not guilty of murder by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday (December 12) but during the trial he had offered a plea of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility which was accepted. He will be sentenced on February 9, for manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Detective Inspector Michelle Thurgood, from our Homicide Unit, said: "We heard from people who said O’Neill and Mr Ford were best friends. However, they regularly drank heavily and took prescription drugs. The attack was sustained and horrific and Mr Ford was found with defence wounds to his hands where he’d tried to protect himself.

“We’re grateful to the bus passenger who alerted police on hearing O’Neill on the phone and that allowed us to liaise with Police Scotland in time to intercept O’Neill when he arrived in Glasgow. My thoughts remain with Kenneth’s family."