Connor Brown murder: Leighton Barrass guilty of alley stabbing

Connor Brown was stabbed in the heart

A man has been found guilty of murdering a teenager during a row outside a pub.

Connor Brown, 18, suffered a fatal knife wound in an alleyway near the Borough pub in Sunderland in February.

Leighton Barrass, 20, of Hartside Square, denied murder but was convicted by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court.

Ally Gordon, 20, of Pulmuir Road, was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter. They are both due to be sentenced on Thursday.

Leighton Barrass (left) was convicted of murder and Ally Gordon or manslaughter

The court heard Connor and a friend encountered Barrass and Gordon in the alley and an argument about drugs and an alleged debt of five pounds ended in a fight.

Connor suffered five stab wounds, one of them to the heart, and died in hospital shortly afterwards.

'No winners'

Gordon had viciously kicked him as he lay on the ground, the court was told.

In a statement, Connor's family said the two killers had shown "little remorse".

"While their conviction today brings some comfort to us knowing that justice has been served, there are no winners," they said.

"Nothing can bring Connor back, and that is the sobering reality that we face."

Det Supt John Bent, of Northumbria Police, said his detectives had to travel to Scotland to arrest Gordon after he fled the area.

A fight ensued in the alleyway outside the pub