Footballer murdered on dancef loor with a knife just because he bumped into killer
TWO men are facing life in jail for stabbing to death a semiprofessional footballer on a nightclub dancefloor. Remy Gordon and Kami Carpenter took deadly revenge on Cody Fisher in a Boxing Day attack that followed a minor incident between them on Christmas Eve.
Gordon was furious that Mr Fisher refused to apologise for bumping into him and tracked the 23-year-old down – posting an image on Snapchat asking for help identifying him.
He and Carpenter smuggled a knife through security at the Crane nightclub in Birmingham to carry out the attack. Mr Fisher, a former Birmingham City academy member who played for Stratford Town and Bromsgrove Sporting, was stabbed through the heart and died at the scene.
His girlfriend Jess Chatwin, who was with him at the club, said she initially thought he had been knocked out only to put her hand down to find the knife embedded in his chest.
Gordon, 23, and Carpenter, 22, blamed each other for stabbing Mr Fisher, who was also a sports coach at Woodrow First School in Redditch, Worcestershire. They were both found guilty of murder yesterday following a ten-week trial. Gordon was also convicted of affray in relation to an attack on a friend of Mr Fisher.
Jurors at Birmingham Crown Court were told Gordon orchestrated the ‘awful revenge’ after Mr Fisher made brief ‘unavoidable’ contact with his back while leaving Popworld in Solihull on Christmas Eve 2022.
Michael Duck KC, prosecuting, told jurors they might find it difficult to comprehend the potential reason behind the attack – describing it as a ‘planned act of retribution’ following a ‘minor falling-out’.
He said it was a joint attack in which each defendant had or knew of the existence of knives. ‘ Cody Fisher it seems did little more than touch Remy Gordon’s back,’ he said. Mr Fisher was not prepared to apologise, having done nothing wrong and being threatened with violence, the court heard. He left the club with a friend.
Mr Duck said of Gordon: ‘The strength of his resentment can be gleaned from messages sent within about 50 minutes of the encounter in Popworld.
‘He felt rather embarrassed and frustrated that he had been unable to intimidate a member of the public.’
Gordon sent the messages on Snapchat to friends shortly after the initial incident, appealing for help to identify a photograph showing Mr Fisher and threatening to ‘shank him up’.
Jurors were told the killers had taken advantage of lax security at the club. Earlier in the day, Carpenter had sent a Snapchat audio message to Gordon asking him if he could get his ‘shank in there’ – slang for a knife. Shortly afterwards Gordon replied with texts saying ‘yh’ and ‘not that big ting tho’. The trial was told it was Carpenter who ultimately delivered the fatal blow to the victim.
The court heard that after the attack, which happened shortly after 11.39pm, Carpenter changed his clothes and booked a ticket to Jamaica. He had also shared an image of himself holding a large machete on Christmas Eve, which was the same brand as the knife embedded in Mr Fisher’s body.
Giving evidence, he said that he thought the knife – brought from Birmingham’s indoor market – ‘was cool’, adding: ‘How big it was. I just found it fascinating at the time.’
In his evidence, Gordon had denied his text about bringing a knife was literal and described it as ‘just an expression’.
He also rejected claims that he felt Mr Fisher acted as if he was ‘ better’ than him. He told the court he just thought he was ‘posh’. He admitted giving his phone away, deleting his Instagram account and travelling to London ‘in panic’ in the days that followed. But he said he was not trying to disguise himself when he wore a mask while entering the club, telling the jury: ‘It’s just fashion and it’s winter.’
The pair were remanded in custody ahead of sentencing next week. Det Insp Michelle Thurgood, who led the investigation for West Midlands Police, said afterwards: ‘The absolute tragedy of this case is just how trivial the motive was.’
Mr Fisher’s mother Tracey said her son was ‘brave, fearless and the most genuine soul I knew’.
‘Planned act of retribution’