Search: Knife death sentence
A 14-year-old boy who killed his promising footballer friend has been ordered to be detained for six years under new tougher guidelines for knife crime.
Michael Ematuwo was 13 when a flick-knife he was waving around to ward off a bully struck his friend, Jahmal Mason-Blair, 17, who was trying to stop a fight.
Jahmal, who had trials with Tottenham Hotspur, Watford and Reading, bled to death as the knife cut an artery in his neck.
Ematuwo, of Hackney, east London, pleaded guilty to manslaughter last month.
Judge Paul Worsley sentenced him at the Old Bailey saying the new guidelines from the Lord Chief Justice came into force on Monday and meant all jail terms had to be a deterrent.
Judge Worsley told Ematuwo: "It was the carrying of a knife which led to the death of Jahmal. You have destroyed the life of his family. Jahmal was the bright star in the lives of his family.
"He was a decent, popular boy and a talented footballer. He was a boy who met his death trying to stop violence, not causing it."
