Murder charge after fatal Costa stabbing
ASOUTHPORT man has been held in Spain and charged with homicide after a fatal stabbing.
Ben Nesbitt, 21, from Woodvale, was found bleeding to death in the street during the early hours of October 1 in Rojales on the Costa Blanca.
The emergency services were called to the scene by shocked locals but they were unable to save Ben, who had been stabbed in the neck.
The next day police arrested a 38-year-old man in the Girona area near Spain’s border with France.
It is now understood that Wai Ming Lam, from the Southport area, was later charged with homicide.
Spanish police released video footage after Lam’s arrest in the Girona area on October 2. The man, dressed casually in tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt , was seen being led by armed police to a waiting police car.
A spokesperson for the Spanish police has said that Ben had been involved in an argument with another man during a meeting inside a house in the town of Rojales.
Police said Ben was stabbed in the neck, staggered outside for help and then passed out. By the time the emergency services arrived at the scene he had bled to death.
Lam, known in the Southport area as ‘Ming’, has appeared in court in the Alicante area charged with homicide.
After the stabbing, media reports revealed that Lam and Ben had known each other.
Ben’s violent death was met with shock and sadness in Southport.
Laura Tasker, from Ainsdale, said that Ben had been like a ‘brother’ to her son and would often stick up for him.
She said: “Him and Ben were always together, they were like brothers. They had each other’s back all the time, they understood each other.”
Ben, just a month from his 22nd birthday, was from the Woodvale area.
One tribute posted on social media read: “Remembering nothing but the best funny memories of you. Gone way way before your time was such a funny little character our space raider. Fly high brother.”
Another read: “I’m absolutely devastated because I know how much of a lovely boy u actually was.”
Last month a group of Ben’s friends gathered in the town and released balloons in his memory.
Spanish police have declined to reveal any more details about the case at this stage.
A spokesperson for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said: “Our staff are in contact with the Spanish authorities regarding a British man arrested in Alicante.
“Consular assistance is being provided.”