Digbeth nightclub killer facing life sentence

A knifeman is facing a life sentence after being found guilty of stabbing a man as he left a nightclub in Digbeth.

Zechelle Reid slashed Jason Bentley-Morrison, aged 25, in the stomach as he left Lab11 on Oxford Street.

The attack just before 3am on August 22 last year was caught on CCTV.

Reid was filmed making a comment to Mr Bentley-Morrison, a company director, who hit him seconds later.

West Midlands Police said it is not clear what Reid said to his victim, but the men were seen squaring up to each other in the street seconds later with Reid then lunging at Mr Bentley-Morrison with a knife - stabbing him in the stomach - causing him to collapse.

Medics tried to save him at the scene, and later at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, but he died at 10.30am that day.

When did police charge Reid?

Reid, 30, of Pugh Road, Aston, handed himself in at Perry Barr police station three days later - at around 6pm on 25 August and was arrested on suspicion of murder.

He gave officers a prepared statement, denying he was present when the victim had been stabbed. But he refused to answer any questions.

Detectives pieced together CCTV showing the attack and Reid’s movements before and after, and he was found guilty by a jury after a trial at Birmingham Crown Court today (Thursday, March 10).

He will be sentenced next Wednesday.

What have police said about the murder case?

Det Insp Hannah Whitehouse, who led the investigation, said: “We may never know what was said to Jason in the moments before his death.

“There’s no evidence he knew his killer, or that he was involved in any criminal activity which may have motivated this attack.

“But again, we have a case where what started as a fist fight has very quickly become a violent murder, all because one of those involved, Reid, decided to use a knife.

“The harm that knife crime does to families and entire communities is enormous.

“It’s devastated Jason’s family, and countless other families in the West Midlands and beyond.

“We’ll continue to work to reduce knife crime, through education and enforcement, to prevent more families going through what Jason’s have had to suffer.”

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