The father of a student brutally stabbed to death by a 'coward' armed with a 13-inch 'mafia stiletto' weapon has called for a crackdown on knife crime. Jason O'Connor said the 15 year sentence handed to his son's killer 'does not reflect the magnitude of the crime'.
Luke O'Connor, a second year business management at Manchester Metropolitan University, was just 19 when he was knifed eight times by Shiloh Pottinger in Fallowfield. Manchester Crown Court heard that Luke, originally from Bedford, had been out with friends for a Halloween party in October last year before bumping into Pottinger, a music production student at BIMM music university. The pair were total strangers.
Luke's friend made a 'jocular' comment about Pottinger having a skateboard, as their paths crossed. A confrontation followed and Pottinger, then 19 and now 20, produced the flick knife he'd been carrying, which he'd bought from China.
