This is the disturbing moment two men hunted down and stabbed a talented footballer to death on a nightclub dancefloor on Boxing Day in petty retribution....CONTINUE READING
The attack occurred after one of the killers found him on Snapchat and vowed ‘revenge’ for accidentally touching him on the back during a night out two days earlier.
Video released by police from the night shows the footballer dancing in a group includinghis girlfriend Jess Chatwin and best friend Dan Vann before he was ambushed by 10 masked men.
Remy Gordon, 23, and Kami Carpenter, 22, were today found guilty of murdering 23-year-old Cody Fisher, who died in front of his girlfriend and best friend atthe Crane nightclub in Digbeth, Birmingham, just before midnight on December 26, 2022.
Gordon took a photo of Mr Fisher and chillingly asked his friends ‘who knows this likkle pip squeeze…due to shank him up’ while trying to find him after the former
Remy Gordon (left) and Kami Carpenter (right) were today both found guilty of Cody’s murder
Cody Fisher with his girlfriend Jess Chatwin, who was in the nightclub when he was murdered
CCTV shows the disturbing moment two men hunted down and stabbed a talented footballer to death on a nightclub dancefloor on Boxing Day in petty retribution
Gordon sent messages to his friends asking him to help identify his victim, who he called a ‘likkle pip squeeze’, before explaining that he was ‘due to shank him up’
CCTV footage shows the two men talking face to face at the club before Mr Fisher begins walking away and Gordon – who had wanted an apology but did not receive one – pulls him back.
Less than an hour after the encounter, Gordon sent messages in a Snapchat group he was in with friends including Carpenter and appealed for their help to identify Mr Fisher and threatened to ‘shank him up’.
He shared a photograph with an arrow pointing to Mr Fisher and asked ‘Who knows this likkle pip squeeze [sic]?’ before adding ‘man think he’s bad’ and ‘posh yout’.
Mr Fisherwas attacked by a masked group at the Crane club in front of more than 2,000 people. The weapon – a zombie knife – was left buried in his chest after being smuggled in following cursory security checks.
His partner today told the BBC how she thought he had been ‘knocked out’ and tried to arrange him in the recovery position before she discovered the knife.
Footage shows the moment Remi Gordon scans the crowd at the Crane nightclub
Kami Carpenter was also searched at the Crane nightclub before he entered
Carpenter at the bar on his phone as he asks for a bottle of water before meeting Gordon
Jess said she knew she had to tell him everything she could before it was ‘too late’ and said: ‘I just kept telling him that I loved him and I was here.’
She emotionally described how that night ‘replays’ in her head ‘every single day, every single night’.
Telling the BBC about how everything reminds her of him, she said she still has the Lucozade bottle he drank out of on Christmas Eve which was left in her car.
The 999 call reporting the brutal attack was released by police, which hears a clubber say ‘someone’s been stabbed’.
Further video released by the police shows the arrest of Mr Fisher’s killers. The body-worn camera footage showed five officers surrounding Carpenter as he was forced to sit on a road while in handcuffs.
He was then searched before put into the back of a police van dressed in white trainers, black joggers and a white t-shirt.
Family members in the public gallery cried and stormed out of the courtroom as the jury found Gordon guilty of murder and affray after deliberating for 28 hours.
Carpenter wasfound guilty of murder by a majority of 10 to one, was found not guilty of the same charge at the Crane, relating to an attack on a friend of Mr Fisher.
Fellow defendant Reegan Anderson, 19, of no fixed address, was found not guilty of murder and not guilty of an alternative charge of manslaughter but guilty of affray and was bailed until a sentencing hearing after Easter.
CCTV footage showed a group including Gordon and Carpenter laughing as a they reenacted the murder in a pizza takeaway later in the night.
Today, Cody Fisher’s family said his murder has ‘ruined everybody’s life’ and had been ‘for nothing’.
His girlfriend, Jess Chatwin, who was with him at the nightclub when he was stabbed and called the police, said: ‘The first thing I thought (was that) he’d been knocked out, so I was trying to wake him up.
‘Then I thought I need to put him in the recovery position so he doesn’t choke, and that’s when I put my hand down and that’s when I felt the knife.’
Cody’s mother, Tracey Fisher, described him as her ‘youngest boy, best friend and her angel’.
‘Cody’s father, brother and the rest of his living family who miss him dearly are suffering. Cody truly never had a bad bone in his body. He loved teaching young children,’ she said .
‘He loved, cared for and respected his family. He had more living to do and so much more love and kindness to give to the world.
‘Cody taught us all so much about ourselves and we miss him every single minute of every day.
‘I will not get to see him go on to do more amazing things, like inspire many more children and adults as he used to do, have holidays with him and go to his footy matches every week to see him kick a ball, like he’d done from the day he could walk.
‘Sadly, I will never see my son live on through his children and as such never enjoy any grandchildren from him.
‘Cody Fisher was brave, fearless and the most genuine soul I knew. I had the pleasure and honour to call him my son. May you rest in peace my beautiful boy.’
Mr Fisher’s brother Stephen said: ‘It’s just ruined my family, it’s ruined everybody’s life.
‘We all kind of lived and done our best for Cody and now he’s no longer here. It’s hard to come to terms with what to do.’
Body-worn camera footage showed five officers surrounding Carpenter as he was forced to sit on a road while in handcuffs
Further video released by the police shows the arrest of Mr Fisher’s killers
Remy Gordon (left) and Kami Carpenter (right) pictured at Birmingham Crown Court
Fellow defendant Reegan Anderson, 19, of no fixed address, was found not guilty of murder and not guilty of an alternative charge of manslaughter but guilty of affray and was bailed
Opening the case against the trio in January, prosecutor Michael Duck KC told jurors: ‘The prosecution say that these three were part of a joint attack in which each either had or knew of the existence of knives.’
Mr Fisher was stabbed in the chest, penetrating a valve in his heart, and was pronounced dead at the scene, the court heard, while a close friend of the victim was chased and kicked but managed to get to his feet and escape.
Explaining the alleged motivation for the killing, Mr Duck said: ‘The prosecution say this was a joint and planned attack involving extreme violence.
‘It was not a matter of chance that Cody Fisher was attacked. It was not a flash of temper – it was a planned act of retribution.’
Saying the jury may find it difficult to comprehend the potential reason behind the attack, Mr Duck added: ‘The loss of Cody Fisher’s life appears to relate to a minor falling out he had with Remy Gordon approximately 48 hours before his death.’
The earlier incident took place at the Popworld club in Solihull, Mr Duck said.
‘It was packed,’ Mr Duck said of the venue. ‘The inevitable consequence is that in that sort of environment people are going to come into contact with each other.
‘It’s simply unavoidable. There was a brief coming together of Cody Fisher and Remy Gordon that night.
‘Cody Fisher (and the close friend who was later chased at the Crane nightclub) were making their way towards the exit.
‘Necessarily they had to move through a crowd of people. Tragically, amongst that crowd was Remy Gordon.
‘There was a brief contact between Cody Fisher and Remy Gordon’s back it seems.
‘Cody Fisher it seems did little more than touch Remy Gordon’s back. Remy Gordon was looking for an argument with somebody.’
Referring to social media messages subsequently sent by Gordon, Mr Duck told the jury: ‘It’s plain from evidence which has been obtained that rather than Mr Gordon simply acknowledging there had been no malice… he decided to challenge Cody Fisher.’
Mr Fisher was not prepared to apologise, having done nothing wrong and been threatened with violence, the court heard, and left the club with his friend.
Mr Duck said of Gordon: ‘He was set on retribution that ultimately was to lead to the loss of Cody Fisher’s young life in the Crane nightclub.
‘The strength of his resentment can be gleaned from messages sent within about 50 minutes of the encounter in Popworld.
‘He felt rather embarrassed and frustrated that he had been unable to intimidate a member of the public.’
It is alleged Gordon sent messages on Snapchat to friends around 45 minutes after the initial incident, appealing for help to identify a photograph showing Mr Fisher and threatening to ‘shank him up’.
‘The prosecution say within three-quarters of an hour of that minor incident taking place in Popworld you see the way Remy Gordon felt about it and what he intended to do about it,’ Mr Duck said.
Fisher was a former academy player for Birmingham City FC
Mr Fisher, who played for Stratford Town and Bromsgrove Sporting, died at the scene.
Mobile phone footage of Mr Fisher lying on the floor after he was stabbed in the chest and leg was shown to the court, as well as further film which captured part of the attack on his friend.
After the footage was shown to the jury, Mr Duck held up the ‘ferocious’ knife, used to kill Mr Fisher – contained in a see-through plastic box – so the jury could see its size.
Disclosing what he described as ‘one of the appalling details of the case’, Mr Duck told the jury: ‘That weapon was recovered – it was recovered by medical staff when they came to treat him and it was still embedded in his chest as he lay on the ground.’
Jurors were shown CCTV images of the three defendants arriving at the Crane club and copies of Snapchat messages sent between Gordon and Carpenter in the hours before they arrived there.
One message referred to a ‘bally’ and another asked ‘can I get a shank in there’.
A third electronic conversation – alleged to show a ‘sinister intention’ on the part of Gordon – said he was ‘looking to snuff someone’.
The Crane was closed permanently in January 2023 after having its licence revoked by Birmingham City Council
Mr Duck said: ‘Mr Gordon was intending to wear a disguise. He was debating which weapons to take into the premises. And he was intending to revisit the events of Christmas Eve with Mr Fisher.
‘Terrifying as that summary of the scenario might be, members of the jury, the prosecution say it’s the only sensible analysis of what happened.’
The court was also told a mutual friend of one of the defendants and Mr Fisher had suggested that he and the semi-professional footballer leave the Crane nightclub due to Gordon’s presence at the venue.
‘Cody Fisher indicated that he was not prepared to leave the premises and be intimidated in that way,’ Mr Duck said.
Judge Paul Farrer remanded Carpenter and Gordon into custody to await sentencing after the Easter bank holiday.
He thanked the jurors for their service and excused them from further jury service for the period of 20 years.
In a statement released after the verdicts were handed down, West Midlands Police Det Insp Michelle Thurgood, who led the investigation, said: ‘The absolute tragedy of this case is just how trivial the motive was.
‘It’s the kind of thing that most right-minded people would have just ignored and moved on, but Remy Gordon, for reasons only he can explain, took real exception to this.
‘It was a chance brushing together of two men who did not know each other and had no reason to fall out.
‘Cody’s life has been cut tragically short, and it’s had a catastrophic impact on his family and friends.’
