Man guilty of killing teen in postcode war

PETROL STATION KNIFEMAN WHO WENT ON THE RUN FOR THREE YEARS IS ACQUITTED OF MURDER BUT CONVICTED OF MANSLAUGHTER

- CARL JACKSON

A MAN who was wanted for nearly three years has been found guilty of killing a 16-year-old boy amid a postcode gang war in Birmingham.

Ishmael Farquharson stabbed Sekou Doucoure in the chest at the Esso petrol station on Nursery Road in Newtown on July 12, 2022, with the incident being captured on CCTV.

The boy, who had once played football for Nottingham Forest academy but slipped into gang culture, died at the scene.

Farquharson, then aged 31, fled the area. Police issued numerous wanted appeals while Crimestoppers put up a £10,000 reward for information on his whereabouts. He was eventually arrested in Spain in March this year.

The now 34-year-old, of Porchester Drive, Newtown, accepted he inflicted the fatal wound to Sekou but claimed he acted in self-defence.

Following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court he was yesterday found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter, as well as possession of a knife.