‘Cowards’ handed life terms after stabbing footballer

TWO “cowardly” men who stabbed a footballer to death after he accidentally bumped into them two days earlier have been sentenced to life in prison.

Cody Fisher, 23, was attacked in a Birmingham nightclub on Boxing Day 2022 in an act of “retribution” after briefly making “unavoidable contact” with Remy Gordon at another venue on Christmas Eve.

Gordon hatched a plan with Kami Carpenter to “shank him up” and footage showed them smuggling a knife past security at The Crane nightspot in Digbeth, Birmingham. The pair then attacked the former Birmingham City academy player, who died at the scene.

Shortly after the attack, Gordon went to a nearby takeaway where he laughed and joked with a friend as he described what had happened.

At Birmingham Crown Court yesterday, Gordon was handed a life sentence with a minimum of 26 years in prison. Carpenter will serve life with a minimum of 25 years.

Following their conviction, Tracey Fisher, the victim’s mother, said: “The evilness and the cowardliness of those individuals that did that to him for nothing – who even does that?

“So you can bump into somebody in a pub or a club or whatever, accidentally, and that is the repercussion? To be that evil?”

Fellow defendant Reegan Anderson, 19, was found not guilty of murder or manslaughter but was convicted of affray.

The court heard how two days before his murder, Fisher had briefly brushed past Gordon at the Popworld venue.

Michel Duck KC, prosecuting, said: “Cody Fisher [and a close friend who was later chased at the nightclub] were making their way towards the exit.

“Necessarily they had to move through a crowd of people. Tragically, amongst that crowd was Remy Gordon.

“There was a brief contact between Cody Fisher and Remy Gordon’s back, it seems. Remy Gordon was looking for an argument with somebody.”

The court heard how Gordon sent messages on Snapchat to friends about 45 minutes after the initial incident, appealing for help to identify a photograph showing Fisher and threatening to “shank him up”.

In a statement read out in court, Fisher’s girlfriend Jessica Chatwin said her world “shattered” as her boyfriend took his last breaths in her arms.

Judge Paul Farrer KC said: “In short, this was a sustained attack on a man who was significantly outnumbered and stood little or no chance of defending himself.”