Three teenage boys have been found guilty of killing a 16-year-old with a large zombie knife at a house party in Bath.
Mikey Roynon, from Bristol, died from a single stab wound at the birthday party, on 10 June 2023, despite the paramedics' best efforts to save him. Mikey's friends and family remembered him as "so funny and fearless", and "a kind loving and thoughtful soul". Jurors found one boy guilty of murder and the other two guilty of manslaughter — all aged 16, they cannot be named for legal reasons.
One of Mikey's friends who had travelled with him to the party told the court he saw Mikey after the attack and heartbreakingly recalled how he told him "I am going to die". Around 50 people were at the party when Mikey was stabbed in the garden. He was bleeding heavily from a wound to his neck and collapsed on the driveway of the venue in Eastfield Avenue, a court heard. The defendants fled the scene and later disposed of their weapons, and two were recovered by the police.
The boy found guilty of murder had admitted stabbing Mikey but said he acted in self-defence. The BBC reported that Mikey's family broke down in tears and hugged each other as verdicts were delivered. Witnesses said that about nine or 10 boys had pulled weapons "like swords and zombie knives", the jury heard. Mikey was in the middle of sitting his GCSE exams when he was fatally stabbed and two months later, his mum opened his results beside his grave.
Christopher Quinlan KC, prosecuting, told the jury last month that Mikey had travelled to Bath on a different bus from his home in Kingswood, Bristol, with his own group of friends. Trouble between Mikey’s group and the defendants’ group flared in the garden of the house.
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Mr Quinlan said friends of the defendants anticipated "trouble" and "expected drama", and both groups were armed with knives. He added: "The events you are concerned with happened quickly and unexpectedly, and frightening for those that witnessed the events and its aftermath. These three defendants are young. Not withstanding that, what the prosecution say was they were involved in very serious criminality, which two of them have pleaded guilty, and having in their possession knives taken to the party – one each and substantial knives. We are not talking about a pen knife – what we are talking about is substantial weapons."
During the trial, the three defendants chose not to give evidence to the court but gave written statements. Two of the boys, including the one who inflicted the wound, admitted possessing knives but the other boy denied having one. All three denied murder and will be sentenced on 3 May.
Mikey's family has set up the charity Mikey's World in his name to help save the lives of others by raising money to install more bleed kits in public places. They're also working with Avon and Somerset Police to help set up community projects in boxing gyms and music studios, to reduce knife crime.
Mikey's mother Hayley Ryall told ITV West Country: "I had 27 missed calls on my phone from Mikey's phone so I knew something was wrong. We waited for the police. We were just in shock. None of us knew what to say to each other. It's happening too often, so if we can help prevent it, prevent another family from going through what we have, we have to."
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