26 March 2024 , 19:04
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Cody Fisher, 23, a PE teacher who played for Stratford Town, was knifed in the heart on the dance floor and died in front of his girlfriend - his killer smuggled in a ’ferocious’ murder weapon
The family of a young footballer stabbed to death in a nightclub wants the Government to introduce new laws to stop a repeat of the tragedy.
Cody Fisher, 23, a PE teacher who played for Stratford Town, was knifed in the heart on the dance floor and died in front of his girlfriend. His killers were able to smuggle the “ferocious” murder weapon into Crane nightclub in Birmingham on Boxing Day in 2022.
Cody’s distraught mum Tracey Fisher said the venue, which was later stripped of its licence, had “blood on its hands”. Security officials failed to search killer Remy Gordon and only used metal-detecting wands on a handful of the 2,000 revellers.
Gordon even messaged fellow murderer Kami Carpenter once he was inside the club to say: “Not even a metal detector.” Tracey said her talented footballer son would be alive today had security at the Digbeth venue been more thorough.
“I think that they’re shocking,” she said. “They’ve got blood on their hands, without a doubt. I feel really strongly that they need to face responsibility for allowing it. If they’d been more strict and used the body scanners and done the checks, that knife wouldn’t have got in and that wouldn’t have happened to Cody.”
Cody’s girlfriend Jess Chatwin recalled: “They didn’t even look into my bag, didn’t pat me down or anything.” Crane lost its licence amid fears it posed “terrifying” risks to public safety.
A licensing hearing was told there was “blatant and widespread” drug use inside the venue on the evening Cody died. His family are campaigning for the introduction of Cody’s Law. They want venues to be forced to use metal detectors and also have bleed kits on the premises.
Tracey, from Redditch, Worcs, also wants to see tougher sentences for knife possession. She said: “I’d like it to be that it’s mandatory, so that every parent up and down the country can rest that when their son or daughter goes out to a club, venue, festival, bar, that they must have bleed kits behind the bar, they must use body scanners. I think that would be a fantastic legacy because he would love to know that he’d saved some lives.”
Footage the night of the fatal attack at Crane nightclub ( Image: WMP)
More than 25,000 people have signed a petition backing their call and Stratford-upon-Avon MP Nadhim Zahawi has confirmed an application has been made to debate the matter in Parliament.
The West Midlands Police area has the highest rate of knife crime in England, including London. Gordon, 23, of Birmingham, and Carpenter, 22, of no fixed address, were convicted of murder following a ten-week trial. Reegan Anderson, 19, was cleared of murder but convicted of affray. All three will be sentenced next month.