Mother guilty of helping footballer's killer flee

Officers found more than £5,000 in cash in Jahzeen Carpenter's Mercedes convertible

The mother of a man who murdered footballer Cody Fisher has been found guilty of trying to help him flee to Jamaica after the fatal stabbing.

Kami Carpenter and Remy Gordon were both jailed for life last year for the attack on 23-year-old Mr Fisher on the dance floor of the Crane nightclub in Digbeth, Birmingham on Boxing Day, 2022.

Jahzeen Carpenter, 40, drove to London the following day, where her son was found with two suitcases of clothes. Officers arrested them on the morning of 28 December, said West Midlands Police.

After a trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court, Ms Carpenter, of Peak Drive, Lower Gornal, was found guilty of assisting an offender. She will be sentenced on 15 October.

Mr Fisher was a semi-professional footballer and had taught PE in schools

Officers arrested Carpenter and her son outside flats in the Lewisham area at about 08:30 GMT. Her Mercedes convertible was searched and more than £5,000 in cash seized.

Examination of her mobile phone revealed she had researched a flight from Gatwick Airport to Kingston, Jamaica, that her son booked a seat on and which was due to depart at 13:20 GMT that day.

Det Insp Phil Poole, from West Midlands Police, said Cody's murder had left his friends and family devastated and struggling to come to terms with what had happened.

"While his loved ones were grieving, Carpenter's mother was trying to help her son avoid capture and flee to Jamaica, which would have severely hampered our investigation and delayed justice," Mr Poole said.

"We worked really closely with colleagues from the Metropolitan Police, who were able to move in and arrest both of them before Kami Carpenter could leave the country."

Kami Carpenter, then 22, was convicted of murder alongside Remy Gordon, then 23, in March 2024.