Kwabena Osei-Poku murder: Man, 20, stabbed Northampton student to death

Kwabena Osei-Poku was found with stab wounds near the University of Northampton's Waterside Campus

A student has been found guilty of murdering another undergraduate.

Melvin Lebaga-Idubor, 20, stabbed Kwabena Osei-Poku,19, near the University of Northampton in April.

Lebaga-Idubor was also convicted of carrying a weapon in public and will be sentenced at a later date.

Another man, Ogechi Eke, was acquitted of murder and Lebaga-Idubor's girlfriend was cleared of perverting the course of justice.

Police at the scene of the murder outside the University of Northampton

Northampton Crown Court heard that there was a dispute about drugs before the murder and Mr Osei-Poku had been robbed of a large quantity of cannabis.

On the night of 23 April, the student was found with serious stab wounds in New South Bridge Road near the University's Waterside Campus and died at the scene.

Stabbed twice

The trial of three defendants charged in connection with the death, who were all students at the same university, began on 12 October.

Counsel for the prosecution, Vanessa Marshall, told the court that Lebaga-Idubor stabbed Mr Osei-Poku "not once but twice", with the fatal injury being a "stab wound to the neck".

She said the motive had been either to scare Mr Osei-Poku off dealing drugs at the university, or to steal his drugs, or both.

Lebaga-Idubor, from Abbey Road in Barking, east London, was convicted of murder and having a bladed article in a public place.

Mr Eke, 20, from Brimsdown Avenue in Enfield, north London, faced the same charges on the basis that he had "assisted or encouraged" Lebaga-Idubor but was cleared of all charges.

Zhanae Forbes-Coleman, 19, of Kendal Gardens in Edmonton, north London, was charged with perverting the course of justice in connection to giving her boyfriend a change of clothes and arranging travel for him, but was found not guilty.

Lebaga-Idubor will be sentenced at a later date.