Hackney Teenager to be sentenced for stabbing young footballer

A 14-year-old Hackney boy who killed a promising footballer during a row over a bicycle will be sentenced today.

Jahmal Mason-Blair, 17, was trying to break up the fight between the boy and an older youth in May this year in Amhurst Road.

But he was stabbed in the neck as the boy, 13 at the time, waved a flick-knife around, and died almost instantly.

Jahmal was a talented footballer who had trials with Tottenham Hotspur, Watford and Reading.

His killer, who cannot be named because of his age, pleaded guilty at the Old Bailey to manslaughter earlier this month and was remanded in custody.

The court was told that the defendant was born in Nigeria and had been living locally with an aunt and uncle.

Jahmal's sister Maria Mason, a secondary school teacher, said: "Jahmal was a talented football player who was considered to have exceptional skills.

"There is not one part of our life that has not been touched by the violent and senseless manner of his death."