Ammar Kahrod, 17, has been jailed for at least 17 years for murdering James Brindley. A judge has ruled Kahrod can be identified
The heartbroken sister of a budding fitness entrepreneur has paid tribute to her brother as a judge named his teenage killer and told him he will spent at least 17 years in prison.
Victim James Brindley, 26, was knifed in the heart not far from his parents’ home in Aldridge, West Midlands, messaging his girlfriend Lauren Wong: ‘I’ve just been stabbed.’
Ammar Kahrod, 17, who can now be identified after a successful press application to lift restrictions, denied murder but was unanimously convicted by a jury at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday.
Sentencing the killer on Friday for detention at Her Majesty’s pleasure, judge Patrick Thomas QC, told him: ‘James Brindley died because you carried a knife’, branding his crime a ‘terrible tale’.
Kahrod’s mother was heard shouting ‘they’ve got it wrong’, as the verdict was announced, before collapsing in the public gallery.
Mr Brindley’s 22-year-old sister Charlotte described her brother in court as ‘best friend and confidante’, saying the killer had ‘destroyed everything’ dear to her family.
James Brindley, 26, suffered a single stab wound to the chest before collapsing in a pool of blood and dying in front of his parents just yards from his home
Mr Brindle’s sister, Charlotte (pictured) said teenage killer Ammar Kahrod, 17, who can now be identified, ‘destroyed everything’ dear to her family
James’ parents Mark and Beverley are pictured following their son’s tragic death. Today, a judge ruled his teenage killer could be named
She paid emotional tribute to her ‘well-loved, respected and highly thought-of’ sibling reading her victim impact statement to a court packed with both Kahrod and Mr Brindley’s family and friends.
She added: ‘One of the worst parts is because James was so loyal, if the tables were turned – if he’d witnessed the defendant in trouble, he’d have done everything in his power to help them.’
As she did, Mr Brindley’s mother Beverley broke into tears telling Kahrod’s family sat in front of her in the public gallery: ‘That is absolutely true – and you need to know that.’
The victim’s father told how their last words to Mr Brindley, as he went for a night out with friends, were ‘have fun, Jim, take care’.
He told how his popular, intelligent son was at a ‘pivotal moment’ in his life, ready to set up a health and fitness business in the September of that year.
But those plans were shattered by Kahrod’s ‘calculated, cold-blooded, and cowardly’ actions, with Mr Brindley describing his daughter bursting into her parents’ room at midnight ‘screaming, James had been stabbed’.
Rushing to the nearby police cordon, they were kept back for what ‘felt like an eternity’ as medics desperately tried to save their mortally-wounded son.
A group of teenagers on their way home from their school prom bravely tried to perform CPR before paramedics arrived. Killer Ammar Kahrod will serve at least 17 years in prison
A torn coat, found in a bin on The Croft, revealed traces of James’ DNA and that of others. A surgical type mask was also found in the pocket. The items helped convict the guilty teenager
He said: ‘We were helpless and we desperately wanted him to know that we were there, so we called to him ‘we love you James’.’
He added: ‘Eventually, we were told that he had died and were escorted to his body, lying in his own blood on the pavement where he fell, his chest opened-up by the medics, to allow open heart surgery and direct heart massage.’
Judge Thomas, sentencing, told Kahrod, who wept as he was unanimously found guilty: ‘There is no good reason for carrying a knife.
‘You claim it was for self-defence. I do not accept that explanation from you, given the series of lies you have told throughout this case, but even if it were true it would not amount to an excuse for carrying a knife on the streets.’
Addressing Kahrod, who remained sat and head-bowed in the dock before him, the judge said: ‘The courts, like the police, and public, are deeply concerned about what we know is a large and growing trend among young men and boys to carry knives.
‘If you carry a knife, for whatever reason, there is a real and present risk that something will cause you to take it out; a misunderstood word, a moment of anger, a perceived threat.
Despite medics performing open heart surgery on the pavement outside a row of shops James died at the scene in Aldridge, West Midlands, at about 1.05am
‘Once a knife is out, anything can happen – here the death of a totally innocent and unsuspecting young man.’
Earlier, Judge Thomas, lifting the restriction on the naming of a youth in court following a successful Press Association application, said: ‘He (Kahrod) has been convicted of a very serious crime, of great and proper concern to the public.
‘It seems to me in the interests of the public and open justice.
‘Perhaps I hope by making this order it may deter one person bringing his family name into such a state by carrying a knife.
‘It’s right that his name should be published.’
A group of teenagers on their way home from their school prom bravely tried to perform CPR on Mr Brindley before paramedics arrived.
The youth had claimed he acted in self defence but was later heard telling his dad ‘if we say the truth we’re going to get done’.
During the conversation, the teen was also heard saying: ‘We made a joke about about him talking to his girlfriend.
‘He came over and one of us pulled out a thingy, thinking that he would run away.
‘He went into me and ran off. He was running away. We saw blood on the knife and said: ‘Oh s**t’.’
The court heard how Kahrod came from ‘a strong, united and loving family’ with the judge saying the youth had no excuse for what he did, with a ‘promising future’ ahead and ‘solid family support’.
On Thursday, the jury had also unanimously acquitted the youth’s older brother Aaron Kahrod of murdering Mr Brindley.