Two men have been jailed for life for the murder of footballer Cody Fisher, who was stabbed to death inside a Birmingham nightclub on Boxing Day in 2022 as part of a “sustained attack on a man who was significantly outnumbered”.
Remy Gordon, 23, and Kami Carpenter, 22, had blamed each other for stabbing the 23-year-old former Birmingham City academy player, who died at the scene from a chest wound, but both were found guilty of his murder last month while a third defendant, Reegan Anderson, 19, was cleared.
Gordon and Anderson were also found guilty of affray in relation to a “targeted” attack on a friend of Mr Fisher immediately after the stabbing, which saw him chased across the dancefloor and kicked as he lay “defenceless” on the ground.
A 10-week trial was told Mr Fisher was attacked with a weapon smuggled through security into Digbeth’s Crane nightclub before a pre-planned “act of retribution” for a minor incident two days earlier.
Jurors at Birmingham Crown Court were told that Gordon, of Cofton Park Drive, Birmingham, orchestrated the “awful revenge” after Mr Fisher made brief “unavoidable” contact with his back while leaving a packed club in Solihull on Christmas Eve.
On Monday, Judge Paul Farrer KC jailed Gordon and Carpenter, of Owens Croft, Kings Norton, for a minimum of 26 and 25 years respectively on Monday.
Judge Farrer said some “inevitable” contact was made between Mr Fisher and Gordon as they attempted to leave Popworld and Gordon immediately became “aggressive”.
He said: “Instead of shrugging off what was obviously an accident, Remy Gordon chose to take offence and became immediately aggressive.
“The focus of his aggression appears to have been Cody Fisher, who he asked to go outside and fight.
“Gordon probably expected Mr Fisher to back down but instead Mr Fisher stood up to him and accepted the invitation.
“Another man then intervened and sought to defuse the situation and, ultimately, Gordon was the one who remained inside the premises whilst Mr Fisher left.”
Gordon was left “frustrated and embarrassed” that his attempts to “bully” Mr Fisher were not successful and, within four minutes of leaving Popworld, Gordon was sending messages about him in a group chat with his friends.
Judge Farrer said Gordon believed he had been “disrespected”, which led to the incident on Boxing Day at the Crane nightclub.
He said: “Cody Fisher was surrounded by a group of three or four youths, including Gordon and Carpenter.
“The group were wearing masks to conceal their faces and Gordon was immediately aggressive, pushing his face into Mr Fisher’s and repeatedly demanding that he come outside.
In short, this was a sustained attack on a man who was significantly outnumbered and stood little or no chance of defending himself
“Mr Fisher wasn’t prepared to go outside but was prepared to defend himself if necessary, and to that end, he took off his gold chain and gave it to his girlfriend.
“The attack upon Mr Fisher lasted no more than 37 seconds. It involved punches and kicks, including a blow to the face of sufficient force to fracture the back of Mr Fisher’s jaw, on both sides.
“At some stage, Mr Fisher was also stabbed to his right thigh to a depth of 5cm.
“In short, this was a sustained attack on a man who was significantly outnumbered and stood little or no chance of defending himself.”
He said the attack only ended when Carpenter stabbed Mr Fisher in the chest.
Judge Farrer added: “Remy Gordon, as I’ve observed, after the incident you sought to suggest that Kami Carpenter was solely responsible for the killing of Cody Fisher. The reality is very different.
“You were essentially the leader of your group and, in that respect, you described yourself to the jury as being the most popular.
“It was you that felt slighted by Cody Fisher and it was you that planned and drove this attack.
“You were well aware that Kami Carpenter had a knife, and you intended that it would be used to cause Cody Fisher at least really serious injury.
“I cannot be sure that you necessarily intended that Mr Fisher should be killed, as opposed to being caused really serious injury, but, on any view, you were wholly reckless as to which would occur.”
In a statement read out in court, Mr Fisher’s girlfriend, Jessica Chatwin, who was with him the night he was killed, said her world “shattered” as her boyfriend took his last breaths in her arms.
She said: “Seconds before that moment I remember turning around and looking at Cody behind me and he gave me the biggest smile full of love and happiness – now I question if that was his goodbye.
“The next time I turned around he was surrounded by those attacking him and I watched him fall to the floor, then reality struck that he had been fatally stabbed.
“My life stopped that day. I live each day with enormous pain, loneliness and sadness.
“I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with Cody. Now I have to face the world without his love and guidance, something he always showed me while we were together.
“He was my strength in every situation and now I have to face it all alone.”
A statement from Mr Fisher’s mother Tracey, who did not enter the courtroom but was in the building during the sentencing hearing, was also read out in which she said it was “too much for a mother to bear” to hear the defendants’ “abhorrent lies”.
Paying tribute to her son, her statement said: “Since this horrendous day I feel that my own life has ended, it is as though I too was stabbed straight through the heart.
“I have seen myself go from the happiest, outgoing person, to fighting the hell out of just getting through each and every horrendous, never-ending day in the abhorrent knowledge that my youngest son, my best friend, is never coming home to sleep in his bedroom, the room that I still cannot enter even to this day.
“I instilled in Cody from a young boy that he must stick up for himself and don’t let anyone bully him.
“I told him that sad, weak individuals do exist in our society and they ruin lives – how ironic and saddening that this is exactly what happened to Cody.
“He was only doing what his mum told him to do and I think about this every day, but you never expect your child to be murdered.”
Prosecutor Michael Duck KC told the court it was an “orchestrated attack” on Mr Fisher and Gordon was later captured on CCTV in a pizza takeaway restaurant “re-enacting the attack… and laughing while he did so”.
He said the pair had shown no remorse for what they had done and had sought to evade capture, with Gordon attempting to flee to Jamaica and Carpenter to London, before their arrests.
Opening the case in January, Mr Duck told jurors Mr Fisher was stabbed in the chest, penetrating a valve in his heart, and was pronounced dead at the scene, while a close friend of the victim was chased and kicked but managed to get to his feet and escape.
Mr Duck said it was not a matter of “chance” or a “flash of temper” that Mr Fisher was attacked, rather a “planned act of retribution” after a minor incident at Popworld nightclub in Solihull around 48 hours before he was killed.
As Mr Fisher and his friend were making their way towards the club’s exit, there was a “brief coming together” with Gordon, Mr Duck said.
He said: “Necessarily they had to move through a crowd of people. Tragically, amongst that crowd was Remy Gordon.
“There was a brief contact between Cody Fisher and Remy Gordon’s back, it seems.
“Cody Fisher, it seems, did little more than touch Remy Gordon’s back. Remy Gordon was looking for an argument with somebody.”
Referring to social media messages subsequently sent by Gordon, Mr Duck told the jury: “It’s plain from evidence which has been obtained that, rather than Mr Gordon simply acknowledging there had been no malice, he decided to challenge Cody Fisher.”
Mr Fisher was not prepared to apologise, having done nothing wrong and been threatened with violence, the court heard, and left the club with his friend.
Mr Duck said of Gordon: “He was set on retribution that ultimately was to lead to the loss of Cody Fisher’s young life in the Crane nightclub.
“The strength of his resentment can be gleaned from messages sent within about 50 minutes of the encounter in Popworld.
“He felt rather embarrassed and frustrated that he had been unable to intimidate a member of the public.”
Gordon sent messages on Snapchat to friends around 45 minutes after the initial incident, appealing for help to identify a photograph showing Mr Fisher and threatening to “shank him up”.
Mr Fisher, a former Birmingham City academy member who also played for Stratford Town and Bromsgrove Sporting, died at the scene of the stabbing.
Mobile phone footage of Mr Fisher lying on the floor after he was stabbed in the chest and leg was shown to the court, as well as further film which captured part of the attack on his friend.
After the footage was shown to the jury, Mr Duck held up the “ferocious” knife, used to kill Mr Fisher – contained in a see-through plastic box – so the jury could see its size.
Disclosing what he described as “one of the appalling details of the case”, Mr Duck said: “That weapon was recovered – it was recovered by medical staff when they came to treat him and it was still embedded in his chest as he lay on the ground.”
Jurors were also shown CCTV images of the three defendants arriving at the Crane club and copies of Snapchat messages sent between Gordon and Carpenter in the hours before they arrived there.
One message referred to a “bally” and another asked “Can I get a shank in there?”
A third electronic conversation – which showed a “sinister intention” on the part of Gordon – said he was “looking to snuff someone”.
Mr Duck said: “Mr Gordon was intending to wear a disguise. He was debating which weapons to take into the premises. And he was intending to revisit the events of Christmas Eve with Mr Fisher.”
The court was also told a mutual friend of one of the defendants and Mr Fisher had suggested that he and the semi-professional footballer leave the Crane nightclub due to Gordon’s presence at the venue.
“Cody Fisher indicated that he was not prepared to leave the premises and be intimidated in that way,” Mr Duck said.
Judge Farrer also sentenced Anderson to 18 months for affray, but he was free to leave court having served nearly 15 months in custody since his arrest.
None of the defendants showed any emotion as their sentences were handed down.
#JAILED | Two men have this afternoon been handed life sentences for the murder of Cody Fisher, who was stabbed to death at a nightclub.
— West Midlands Police (@WMPolice) April 8, 2024
Remy Gordon was jailed for at least 26 years, and Kami Carpenter was ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years.
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Detective Inspector Michelle Thurgood, from West Midlands Police, said: “The absolute tragedy of Cody’s death is just how avoidable it was.
“For a young man’s life to be snatched away, because he’d accidentally bumped into Remy Gordon two days earlier, is almost incomprehensible.
“I’d like to pay tribute to Tracey and her family for their strength in attending court today, and the dignity with which they have carried themselves since the awful events of Boxing Day 2022.
“We will continue to work to tackle knife crime in the West Midlands, but police can’t do it alone.
“If you are a parent, guardian or teacher, I implore you to please talk to the young people you care for about Cody’s story, and how numerous lives have been ruined because of the use of a knife.
“We can all play a part in ensuring lives are saved in the future.”