Teenager Brian Grady jailed for murder of "Good Samaritan" Liam Attwell
A BRISTOL teenager faces at least 11 years in jail after being found guilty of murdering Southville chef Liam Attwell.
A jury at Bristol Crown Court took just under 11 hours to unanimously convict Brian Grady, of Lincoln Street, Barton Hill.
The 17-year-old was named after the case, when the Evening Post successfully applied to lift the court order that had previously protected his identity.
As the jury foreman returned the unanimous verdict yesterday, Mr Attwell's mother, Roisin Reddick, punched the air from the public gallery, while distraught members of Grady's family left the court.
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The court heard Mr Attwell, 25, died after Grady stabbed him through the heart with a three inch blade last October. Mr Attwell had intervened when he saw Grady and other youths mugging three boys visiting the city's Harbourside.
Sentencing him, the trial judge, the Honourable Justice Brian Keith, told the teenager: "Your actions left the city of Bristol in shock. The life of a young man courageously doing his civic duty had been cruelly brought to a premature end.
"There is only one punishment for what you did and since you were only 16 at the time you will be detained at Her Majesty's pleasure without a release date."
He said the jury's decision meant the death of Mr Attwell was "no accident" and said Grady's grandfather, who had given him the knife, should "look at his own conscience".
After imposing the jail term, the judge passed his condolences to Mr Attwell's family.
He said: "His life may have been a short one but at least his family knows he died courageously, doing his duty as a citizen."
The Evening Post can today reveal that Grady signed an "Acceptable Behaviour Contract" just four months before he attacked Mr Attwell, after getting in trouble with the police in his neighbourhood a number of times.
His mother, Kelly Revill, was not available for comment.
During the seven-day trial, the jury of eight women and four men heard how Mr Attwell was stabbed when he intervened in a mobile phone robbery Grady and his friends were carrying out at Canon's Marsh. Three boys from Chippenham told how they were robbed by Grady's gang. Mr Attwell rushed up to the gang afterwards, and a struggle between him and Grady ensued.
Grady, who admitted holding out his knife, denied the allegation that he lunged at Mr Attwell, claiming Mr Attwell ran on to his blade.
After the hearing, Mr Attwell's mother Roisin, 46, of Redland, said: "I would never regret what Liam did. I just regret that he's not here. "
Detective Chief Inspector Neil Smart, of Avon and Somerset CID, said: "I am very pleased for his family that justice has been done."
Defending, Michael Fitton said Grady had had a "turbulent domestic background" and that his father had been jailed when Grady was aged two to nine.
Grady pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rob and also received a four-year jail sentence to run at the same time.
Three other teenagers have also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rob and will be sentenced shortly.
They are: Adam Gillespie, 18, of Rochester Road, St Anne's Park; Darron Jones, 18, of Wick Road, Brislington; and a 17-year-old youth from Easton who cannot be named for legal reasons.
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