Four guilty of town centre stab murder

Joseph was an amazing young man who had the world at his fingertips, his mother said

Four people have been found guilty of murdering a 16-year-old boy.

Police said Joseph Riches was killed in broad daylight following an incident in Stourbridge last year.

The teenager was stabbed to death by Joshua Edgington, Dray Simmonds and two 16-year-olds who cannot be named for legal reasons.

His mother described her son as an amazing young man with the world at his fingertips.

Joseph, from Bartley Green, was in the town centre with friends on 15 July last year.

West Midlands Police said he had approached another group before attacking two of them with a screwdriver.

What prompted the incident is unknown but Joseph then tried unsuccessfully to escape.

Officers explained he attempted to get into a car with his friends before the opposing group, one of whom was armed with a machete, gave chase.

Joshua Edgington and Dray Simmonds were found guilty of murder

Coventry Crown Court heard it was Simmonds, 20, who inflicted the fatal blow but the other three were found guilty by joint enterprise.

Simmonds, of Dixon Green Road, Dudley, and Edgington, 20, from Hallewell Road, Birmingham, are due to be sentenced alongside the two youths on Thursday.

In a statement released through the police, Joseph's mother Sarah said: "His murder has left a huge hole in the lives of his family and friends and he will be forever loved and missed by us all. I will never forgive and never forget.”

Det Ch Insp Laura Harrison added: “This is another young life lost to knife crime."