A “volatile and out-of-control” teenager who was 16 when he stabbed a man to death has been sentenced to at least 13 years.
CCTV footage captured the moment the youth, now aged 17, attacked Tom Ellis near Nuneaton’s Ropewalk Shopping Centre on 8 June.
A keen sportsman, Mr Ellis had been out with his girlfriend and others to celebrate his 25th birthday when he suffered a single blow to his chest with a huge hunting-style knife.
Immediately afterwards, the 17-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, asked his mother to collect a takeaway he ordered before the stabbing, the court heard.
Prosecutor Peter Grieves-Smith told Warwick Crown Court that the teenager regularly carried knives.
At the time of the attack he was with other youths and Mr Grieves-Smith said the defendant had stabbed Mr Ellis following “a brief exchange of words” and a disagreement.
Sentencing, Judge Andrew Lockhart KC told the youth that Mr Ellis “didn’t know that you had that knife ready for use”.
“It’s a special feature of this case that you killed Tom in front of his loved ones in a public place,” he added.
