Two men who murdered footballer Cody Fisher following a minor row inside a nightclub could get their prison sentences lengthened, it has been revealed.
The Attorney General issued the update after it received a referral arguing their jail terms as too lenient. Remy Gordon, 23, and Kami Carpenter, 22, were sentenced to life at Birmingham Crown Court with a minimum term of 26 and 25 years respectively following the Boxing Day attack in 2022.
Cody, who was an academy player for Birmingham City, was knifed to death at Birmingham’s Crane nightclub. His death was connected to a minor altercation which took place at a club in Solihull two nights earlier on Christmas Eve. On Saturday (April 20), the Attorney General announced it is considering whether to refer the sentences to the Court of Appeal for reconsideration.
A spokesperson for Victoria Prentis said she will weigh up whether to refer the case to the Court of Appeal. The statutory time limit for the review to be completed is May 3, her spokesperson said. Mr Fisher was attacked with a weapon smuggled through security into the Crane nightclub in Digbeth, in a pre-planned “act of retribution” for a minor incident two days earlier.
Jurors at Birmingham Crown Court were told Gordon, of Cofton Park Drive, Birmingham, orchestrated the “awful revenge” after Mr Fisher made brief “unavoidable” contact with his back while leaving a club in Solihull on Christmas Eve. 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.
The court heard Gordon sent messages on Snapchat to friends around 45 minutes after the initial incident, appealing for help to identify a photograph of Mr Fisher and threatening to “shank him up”. Mobile phone footage of the victim lying on the floor after he was stabbed in the chest and leg by Carpenter, of Owens Croft, Kings Norton, was shown to the court. Mr Fisher, who also played football for Stratford Town and Bromsgrove Sporting, died at the scene.
During Gordon and Carpenter's sentencing, a statement was read out from Cody's girlfriend, Jessia Chatwin, who was with him the night he was killed. 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.”