Teenager admits gang murder

A Birmingham teenager admitted yesterday to stabbing a 16-year-old to death because he belonged to a rival gang.

Damien Belle, 18, changed his plea to guilty of murdering the young man outside a college in Birmingham city centre on 5 March. Two other defendants, Nathaniel Darby, 20, and a 17-year-old deny the murder.

The 17-year-old defendant described how he had fallen out with stabbing victim, Odwayne Barnes, because he was a member of the "Bang Bang Crew". The three alleged attackers were part of a rival gang known as the Slash Crew.

Robert Juckes, QC for the prosecution, said the position of Odwayne's wounds – one to the chest and one to the shoulder – suggested he had been attacked from the front and back at the same time. Mr Juckes described how the youths met in the city centre by chance. Odwayne and his friend Leon Black ran away when they saw the rival gang members but were caught at a bus stop outside a college. "By the time he reached the bus stop, he must have thought he had escaped from this confrontation," said Mr Juckes.

The victim suffered "catastrophic" wounds to the heart, but managed to escape before he collapsed.

* An 83-year-old man was pushed into a canal in St Helens, with his nephew, by a gang of youths, police have said. The grandfather may never walk again because of his injuries. Police are appealing for witnesses.