Pair jailed for life for murdering Wolverhampton teenager Terrell Marshall-Williams
Two men have been jailed for life for murdering a teenager in a frenzied attack at a flat in Wolverhampton.
Terrell Marshall-Williams, aged 16, was stabbed eight times with a 'Rambo style' knife at the flat in Warnford Walk, Merry Hill, on September 18 last year and died of his injuries.
In May his killers Omari Lauder, aged 24, of Wolverhampton Street, in Darlaston, and Mpho Obi, aged 23, of Strathfield Walk, Merry Hill, in Wolverhampton were both found guilty of his murder. They will serve a combined minimum term of 50 years.
The pair were also found guilty of possessing an offensive weapon and Obi had admitted possessing cannabis and heroin with intent to supply before the trial.
Obi was locked up for a mimimum term of 27 years for murder with two years to be served for the offensive weapon charge and five years and seven months for the drugs offence, both to be served concurrently.
Lauder was ordered to serve a minimum term of 23 years with two years for the offensive weapon charge to be served concurrently.
The killers were believed to have been former drug dealing associates of the victim, who despite his young age had previously been found in possession of drugs and a sword.
On the day of the attack Obi and Lauder went to the flat armed with a large Rambo knife.Terrell and others were present and during a vicious knife fight which ensued, he alone suffered fatal injuries.
Despite the efforts of West Midlands Ambulance Service paramedics he died at the scene.
Detectives used closed circuit TV footage from the area to track the defendants movements that evening. The images showed injured Lauder and Obi in the area where the murder had taken place.
They were even captured on film discarding clothing, drugs and a mobile phone in a nearby field. These were recovered by the investigating team along with the the blood-stained knife used to carry out the murder.
The pair called for a taxi which dropped Lauder near his Wolverhampton Street home in Darlaston near Walsall. When the officers visited that property they found a trail of blood leading to the front door. There were also signs that Lauder had tried to self-administer first aid.
Meanwhile checks of Obi’s phone uncovered a message sent just after the murder where he boasted that he had stabbed someone. They told the jury they were defending themselves from Terrell, who they claimed had been the attacker.
The two men had denied Terrell’s murder and possessing an offensive weapon but were both convicted by a jury following a three-week trial in May.