Teen guilty of killing father-of-seven with knife

A teenager has been found guilty of murdering a father-of-seven by stabbing him in the leg in a car.

Colin Richards, 48, from Grangetown, Cardiff, was found unconscious in Ely in April last year.

Corey Gauci, 19, denied his murder, but was found guilty by a jury at Cardiff Crown Court on Wednesday following a six-week trial.

Four of the five other defendants – James O’Driscoll, Rebecca Ross, Soray Somersall and Noreen O’Driscoll – were found guilty of charges including violent disorder, assisting an offender and having possession of a bladed article, while the jury found Christian Morgan guilty of possessing a bladed article, but have not yet reached a decision on a charge of violent disorder.

During the trial, jurors heard the case centred around a feud between Christian Morgan, who was a friend of Colin Richards, and the other defendants.

The court previously heard Mr Richards sustained a 10cm (3.9in) deep wound which severed his femoral artery and vein and he bled to death within a minute, following a confrontation with a group wielding knives.

Gauci claimed he was protecting himself and thought Mr Richards was going to attack him, but the court was told he instead followed the victim to the Audi vehicle, which was parked close to alleyway near Heol y Berllan.

Morgan, 36, had received threatening messages from a former girlfriend, Noreen O’Driscoll, 29, and she was “getting her brothers or the boys to sort him out”.

David Elias, prosecuting, told the court that O’Driscoll, along with the other defendants, gathered near where Morgan lived with “a plan to do him harm”.

Gauci and James O’Driscoll were armed with blades.

The judge, Mr Justice Griffiths, remanded all the defendants in custody while the jury continued its deliberations on Morgan.

Speaking after his death, Mr Richard’s family paid tribute to a “much-loved father, grandfather, son, brother, uncle, cousin, and an all-round family man”.