by Geoff Bennett

A Bristol teenager found guilty of murdering a man in a St Paul's pub has been jailed for life.

April Bright, 18, of Wilder Street, St Paul's, stabbed 35-year- old Mohamoud Hassan in the neck at The Criterion pub following last year's St Paul's Carnival.

She had already admitted manslaughter – but a jury at Bristol Crown Court took just over two hours to convict her of a murder charge on Tuesday.

On Wednesday morning she was given a life sentence, and ordered to serve a minium of 12 years.

Justice Roderick Evans, at Bristol Crown Court, said he hoped that, in handing down the minimum term of 12 years, it would deter other teenagers from equipping themselves with knives.

Sentencing Bright, the judge said there was no excuse for anyone to arm themselves with a knife.

“When you went out on carnival night you took with you a knife, that you told the jury was for your own protection,” he said.

“That is no possible justification for taking a knife.

“The carrying of knives is a matter of grave public concern and the presence of knives on our streets in clubs, pubs and in the hands of young people of your age so often leads to serious injury or in this case death.

“A slight, an insult, an inappropriate behaviour, real or imagined, so often leads to the production of a knife and to the consequences in this case.”

It was claimed during the two-week trial that Bright stabbed Mr Hassan because he was part of a group making “a lecherous nuisance of themselves”.

Richard Smith, QC, prosecuting, told the jury that The Criterion had been packed with carnival-goers partying the night away.

Mr Smith said Mr Hassan, also known as “Tiger” or “Warrior”, had been partying and was in high spirits.

His post-mortem examination later revealed he was twice the legal alcohol limit for driving.

Mr Smith said Bright, who had spent the evening with her boyfriend, friends and family, had also been drinking and had been described as moody, excitable and aggressive.

He said: “She had come to carnival armed with a knife in her tracksuit trousers.

“She had been seen in possession of that weapon.”

Mr Smith said, shortly before the murder, Bright had confronted Mr Hassan in a St Paul’s cafe, warning him not to mess with her and telling him: “You don’t know my people. You don’t know who I am.”

The jury was told a group of Somalian men were touching and talking to women and were perceived as a nuisance.

He said that, when Bright and Hassan crossed paths in The Criterion, Bright produced her blade and stabbed him in the neck.

He told the court: “Mr Hassan emerged from the alleyway, through the bar of the pub, clutching his neck and bleeding profusely.

“He was bleeding from a single stab wound inflicted by the defendant. He was aided by a lady and collapsed on the front step of the pub.”

The court heard that, after pushing her away to where Hassan lay bleeding to death, witnesses heard April Bright say: “Let him die.”