Father condemns ‘senseless’ killing of his son

THE FATHER of a talented athlete stabbed to death on his way to a watch a football match has condemned the “senseless, needless, horrific” violence as two men were found guilty of the killing.

Tashan Daniel, 20, had kissed his father goodbye before setting off to see Arsenal take on Nottingham Forest at the Emirates Stadium.

Within an hour, his father witnessed efforts to save his son, after he was stabbed in the chest at Hillingdon Station, west London.

At the time of the killing, the knifeman, Alex Lanning, had been on licence for a previous stabbing in Brighton.

The 22-year-old had admitted Mr Daniel’s manslaughter but denied intending to seriously harm him, claiming it was an accident.

Following a trial at the Old Bailey, Lanning, from Hillingdon, was convicted yesterday of murder. His friend Jonathan Camille, 19, from Fulham, was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter.

Mr Daniel’s family reacted with tearful joy as the guilty verdicts were delivered after six hours of deliberations.

Speaking outside court, his father Chandy Daniel, 59, said his son was a “fantastic human being” with “so much potential and so much to give”. He said: “That life, that prospect, that future, was cruelly and needlessly taken away on the afternoon of September 24, 2019.

He condemned the killers for their “complete lack of remorse or empathy” as they tried to avoid responsibility.

He added: “Whatever sentence is bestowed on Alex Lanning and Jonathan Camille, it cannot even begin to compare to the life sentence with which we are eternally enforced to live.”

Previously, court had heard how Tashan Daniel was “excited” at the prospect of seeing Arsenal play at the Emirates for the first time on September 24 last year.

Judge Mark Dennis remanded the defendants into custody to be sentenced on August 20. Police said “no level of justice will ever be enough for the loss of such a young and promising life”.