Five years for knife killing

A man who stabbed to death his former best friend in a street fight in West Bromwich was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in jail today.

Christopher Szymanski, aged 21, had denied murdering 20-year-old father-to-be Thomas Coombs Duffield but instead pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard that Mr Coombs Duffield had taken the knife used to the scene and thrown the first punch in the brawl on the corner of Bustleholme Lane and Bustleholme Avenue.

But Szymanski had seized the knife and launched a frenzied attack on his one-time best friend, stabbing him six times with five of the blows puncturing his vital internal organs.

The fight happened just around the corner from their homes in Beacon View Road, shortly before 11pm, on July 10, following a fall-out between their girlfriends. Mr Coombs Duffield, also known as Thomas Duffield or 'Duffy', died at Sandwell Hospital of stab wounds the following day.

Judge John Wait sentenced Szymanski to five-and-a-half years. He will serve approximately half before he is released on licence.

He said: "You had known Thomas Coombs Duffield for some time. You had known he was a man given to violent behaviour, but there was no evidence he had even caused anyone any serious harm." The judge said he accepted that he did not want to fight Mr Coombs Duffield but said Szymanski, of Sheepcote House, "lost all self- control".

In a victim impact statement Thomas's mother Sarah Duffield, said: "The death of a child is ever parents worst nightmare. No parent should expect their children to die before them, regardless of the circumstances.

"Since Thomas's death his partner Stephanie has given birth to their son Thomas."