Judge unmasks three teenagers who killed schoolboy at 16th birthday house party

Shane Cunningham, Cartel Bushnell and Leo Knight were all named by a judge after being convicted over the killing of Mikey Roynon in Bath

Three teenagers who killed a promising young rapper after bringing a knife to a girl’s 16th birthday party can be identified for the first time.

Mikey Roynon, 16, received fatal knife wounds to his neck after he was attacked with a large “zombie knife” during the party in Bath in June last year.

Bleeding heavily, he managed to walk from the garden to the driveway of the party venue in Eastfield Avenue before collapsing, while his three attackers disposed of their weapons.

Shane Cunningham, Cartel Bushnell and Leo Knight (from left to right) were identified for the first time by a judge at Bristol Crown Court (Avon and Somerset Police/PA)

Shane Cunningham, the 16-year-old boy who stabbed Mikey, was found guilty of murder following a trial at Bristol Crown Court on Friday and was detained for life, and must serve a minimum of 16 years.

Two other teenagers, Cartel Bushnell and Leo Knight, both aged 16, were also found guilty of manslaughter during the trial and have received sentences of nine years and nine-and-a-half years’ in youth detention.

While they remained anonymous during the trial, the Honourable Mr Justice Saini lifted reporting restrictions for the first time during Friday’s sentencing.

Mikey had gone to Nando’s the night he died - but unknown to his mother he then went to a party in Bath where he died (Hayley Ryall)

Speaking outside the courtroom , Mikey’s mother Hayley said that the decision to name the defendants was a “really huge thing for me”.

CCTV ahead of the party found that the three boys had travelled via bus from the Wiltshire area while armed with knives. After stabbing Mikey, they were caught again on camera discussing what had happened before discarding some of their clothes and disposing of their knives.

During the trial, Cunningham claimed he was acting in self-defence when he stabbed Mikey after claiming Mikey had swung a knife towards his friends in the garden of the property.

Leo Knight was caught on CCTV with a knife down his trousers while bending over on a bus (Avon and Somerset Police)

Speaking to the Independent before sentencing, his Ms Ryall said her son had been proudly wearing his new trainers on the evening he was killed, which she had bought for him to mark the start of his GCSE exams.

“I saw him come down and I smiled and said: ‘You look bloody handsome,’” Ms Ryall said. “He smiled back and then, as he walked out of the door, he turned around and said, ‘I love you.’

“And that’s how I’ll remember the last time I saw him.”

She instantly knew something was wrong when she discovered 37 missed calls on her mobile phone, and was told by his friends that he’d been stabbed and had died.

“I couldn’t – I didn’t – believe it at first. I sent my friend to the nearby hospital to find him and got another friend to drive me to Bath. But when I arrived, I found out he didn’t make it to the hospital,” she said.

Mikey celebrating his 16th birthday at his home in Kingswood, near Bristol (Hayley Ryall)

“I saw at the address [of the house party] there was a forensic tent and officers walking around in white suits. A police officer told me what happened and said I should go home. I was stunned. I can’t explain the feeling.”

She has now established the group Mikey’s World which is aimed at tackling knife crime locally, which aims to distribute bleed control kits to pubs, sports clubs and halls.

In a statement read out in court during Friday’s hearing, she described the impact her son’s death had on her.

She said: “Every morning I wake up and it hurts as much as the last morning. I keep having awful dreams that Mikey is lost and I’m looking for him, but even the awful dreams are better than waking up to reality.

“At least in my dreams he is somewhere, whereas in reality he is gone.”

Mikey Roynon was described as “funny, caring and full of life” by his mother Hayley Ryall (Hayley Ryall)

Sentencing the boys, The Honourable Mr Justice Saini said: “On the day Mikey was killed, he was only 16. He was a child. His family have suffered a loss that’s unimaginable.

“Bristol and its surrounding areas are in the middle of a plague of knife crime.

“The plague has continued since this trial finished. The lives of young boys who carry knives continue to be taken at the hands of other boys who carry knives.

“Those who carry knives are themselves the most likely to be killed with a knife.”

Detective Inspector Mark Newbury, the senior investigating officer, said: “That three boys armed themselves with knives to go to a teenage girl’s 16th birthday party is utterly unconscionable.

“Mikey went to that party to socialise and to have a good time. Instead, he was attacked with a horrifying weapon, suffered a catastrophic injury and tragically lost his life.

“Mikey was a much loved teenage boy and his family have been left totally devastated. They have shown incredible bravery and have courageously spoken out against knife crime since his death, which is something they should never have to do.