The mother of a trainee plumber who was stabbed to death in the street has spoken of her grief as the 17-year old who killed him was convicted of manslaughter.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, knifed 19-year-old Charlie Burns four times in the chest and back after he demanded the payment of a £150 cannabis debt.
The confrontation started after Mr Burns, who was known as Chucky, spotted the boy by chance while driving around Hackney on 18 August last year.
He pulled alongside the Vauxhall Astra he was in and blocked the car before getting out of his vehicle with a wheel brace, the Old Bailey heard.
The driver, Ashan Crosdale, 19, reversed away to escape but crashed into a lamp-post near the junction of Frampton Park Road and Darnley Road.
When Mr Burns approached and hurled the wheel brace at the car, the 17-year-old passenger “turned the tables on him”.
Charlie, who lived in Sharon Gardens with his girlfriend and their child, died in hospital less than two hours later.
The teenager was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter by a jury while Mr Crosdale, 19, of Frampton Park Road, South Hackney, was acquitted of both charges on Thursday last week. Both denied the charges.
Mr Burns’ mother Keeley, 46, who sat through the three-week trial, said: “We are all devastated and upset, we are lost for words. It’s been hard because he’s got a little baby, it’s hard seeing his little girl who’s nine months now, knowing that she wont know him.
“He had a little brother who idolised him, and he’s lost his best friend and his brother.
“It’s so tragic, I keep thinking he is going to walk in the door even though it was August last year, it still feels like yesterday.”
Mr Burns’ family had been due to travel on their first family holiday to Tenerife just four days after he was killed.
Judge Richard Marks QC told the 17-year-old: “There will be, in this case, a substantial sentence of detainment, without question.”
Earlier, prosecutor Mark Dennis QC told jurors: “The sum of money was comparatively small. However that continued non-payment was clearly annoying Charlie Burns and as a result relations between them was already strained even before this day.”
Sentencing will take place at a later date.
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