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| Nii-Azu Kojo-Smith |
A talented football coach has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering a man during a 'horrific scene of complete bedlam' at Westfield Stratford shopping centre just weeks before the 2012 Olympic Games.
A thrown yoghurt pot sparked the mass brawl between two gangs in June 2012, during which Liam Woodards, who had been out celebrating his 24th birthday, was stabbed, the Old Bailey heard.
Nii-Azu Kojo-Smith, 19, who was part of Arsenal's coaching staff, lunged forward and knifed him in the chest in front of horrified shoppers.
As the victim lay dying, the fight moved on to Stratford Tube Station where one of Mr Woodards’s friends stabbed one the opposing gang members.
Following a three-month retrial, Kojo-Smith, 19, of Hackney, east London, was found guilty of Mr Woodards’s murder and was told he would spend at least 18 years in prison.
The Old Bailey heard that Kojo-Smith had a previous conviction for battery and threatening behaviour in 2010 after he was involved in a group attack on a passenger at Finsbury Park Tube station.
In mitigation, the court heard he was a talented young footballer who was involved in coaching at Arsenal.
His lawyer Philippa McAtasney QC said: 'He was a talented footballer. He had obtained an FA1 coaching certificate and his future was set - all of that thrown away in a second of his behaviourSource-Dailym
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