A promising young player at a Welsh football academy, was killed at a house party he had held to celebrate finishing college, a court heard. Ashley Day had been part of Newport County's academy where he had excelled.
A teenager has now been found guilty of killing 20-year-old Ashley, with a Rambo knife at the party in Birmingham, where he had been studying at college. Gurveer Bhandal stabbed him four times, reports WalesOnline.
Mobile phone footage taken moments after the stabbing captured the teenager still holding the knife while a female could be heard screaming 'call the police' and 'is he breathing?'.
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Birmingham Crown Court heard that Ashley had booked the flat at the junction of Bradford Street and Birchall Street through Airbnb. He held a party on June 28 which 'went well', so he decided to host another one the following evening, the court was told.
Birmingham Live reported that Prosecutor Peter Grieves-Smith Kc said: "The flat was pretty full, quite a lot of people listening to music, dancing, drinking, some smoking cannabis and some also took what they called Smartwhip, better known as nitrous oxide or laughing gas."
Evidence demonstrated Bhandal was 'intoxicated' while Ashley had been drinking but was not drunk, the court was told. Police had attended earlier in the night due to the 'general noise and commotion' which resulted in some people leaving only to return later on.
At one point Bhandal was said to have been waving the knife around on a balcony and goading people. Mr Grieves-Smith summarised the account of one particular female witness and said: "When he was asked to calm down by Ashley Day his mood changed. At this point he had a different knife in his hand it was a silver knife with a black handle, what she calls a Rambo knife.
"At this point Ashley Day was holding a nitrous oxide canister, about a foot in length and a few centimetres round. The defendant went for Ashley Day, stabbed him in the chest and stabbed him twice more in quick succession. Ashley Day fell to the floor and then she saw the defendant stab him again to this back before leaving the room."
Witnesses testified that Ashley had tried to block the attack using a foot long nitrous oxide cannister. Ashley had been due to start a physiotherapy course at Brunel University in London.
Bhandal, from Giggety Lane, Wombourne, in Staffordshire, was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter as well as possession of a bladed article following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court. He will be sentenced on January 5 .
At the time of the incident, Ashley's family paid tribute to him saying: "Ashley was a very well-mannered and loving boy. He was very passionate about football and excelled at Newport football academy.
"He had a great love for music. He’d just been accepted to study sports science at Brunel University and was very excited to start later this year. He was a great big brother and a protector to his mum, younger brother and his family. Anyone who knew him will tell you how he exuded joy and happiness and always wanted the best for everybody.
"His smile was infectious and his sense of humour was out of this world. Our hearts are bleeding for our model son."
Newport County AFC said at the time that the club was "deeply saddened to learn the devastating news of the passing of former academy player Ashley Day".
"Everyone at Newport County AFC’s thoughts are with Ashley’s family and friends at this time," the club added in a statement.
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