Call for Cody's Law after footballer's stabbing

The mother of a footballer fatally stabbed in a Birmingham nightclub is calling for legislation in his memory to force venues to stock bleed kits and introduce metal detectors.

Cody Fisher was killed at Crane on 26 December 2022 after a large knife was smuggled into the club.

Tracey Fisher said the venue had "blood on its hands" with prosecutors questioning the security on the night.

The BBC has attempted to contact the firm behind the club.

Remy Gordon, 23, and Kami Carpenter were convicted of murder on Monday and are expected to be sentenced on 8 April.

Mrs Fisher described the pair as "evil", but is campaigning for the introduction of Cody's Law in the hope that it will save others' lives. Thousands have so far signed a petition backing her call.

Whether or not a bleed kit would have saved Cody at the event at Crane, Mrs Fisher said kits would save countless others.

Her son was targeted by a group in masks on the dance floor, headbutted, beaten and finally stabbed with a six-inch blade in the heart.

His crime was merely to have bumped into one of the men, Remy Gordon, at a packed bar in Solihull two days earlier.

The trial painted a picture of cursory security on the night at Crane - an event that attracted more than 2,000 people.

While metal-detecting wands were used on some people, others simply faced a pat-down, while Gordon's bag was not searched at all, the trial heard.

Once inside, Gordon messaged Carpenter to say "not even a metal detector", although the court heard it was not clear who had managed to take the knife in.

During the trial, jurors were shown Snapchat messages sent between Gordon and Carpenter in the hours before. They contained references to a "bally" (balaclava) and one from Carpenter asked, "Can I get a shank [knife] in there?"

Mr Fisher's girlfriend Jess Chatwin and best friend Dan Vann, who were with him at the time of his death, both criticised the club's security that night.

Ms Chatwin said she had been to Crane once before and remembered metal detecting wands being used, but said it was much more relaxed on Boxing Day.

"They didn't even look into my bag, didn't pat me down or anything," she said.

They "took a quick glance" in Mr Fisher's shoulder bag, but did not use any metal detectors and instead "lightly patted him down", Ms Chatwin added.

She described seeing people with nitrous oxide canisters inside, saying: " I just couldn't understand how you could get that into such a big place with so many security.

"I can remember saying to him, 'That's dangerous', and he said, 'I know', and then a few hours later he was stabbed to death."

Jurors were told 26 security staff belonging to K&S Security Services, a Loughborough-based firm, had been working that night alongside medical staff.

The security manager indicated to staff a "Code Red" alert when they were made aware of a serious incident and Mr Fisher was seen on the floor. CPR was administered before paramedics arrived, but he died at the scene.

K&S Security Services has been approached by the BBC, but has not responded.

Representing the operator at the licensing hearing, barrister Nicholas Leviseur said that revoking the licence was "wholly inappropriate", but police said on the night Mr Fisher died, three people had needed medical help after taking drugs.

There was "blatant and widespread" use of drugs inside the venue that evening, the licensing hearing was told, and video footage showed a person inhaling from a balloon believed to contain nitrous oxide, regardless of the police and medical presence following the stabbing.

Mrs Fisher said her talented footballer son would be alive today had security been more thorough.

Speaking ahead of the sentencing, she said: "It doesn't matter whatever they [Cody's killers] get in prison, that will never be justice for me because Cody's not going to walk back through the door, he's not going to sit at the dinner table with me again.

"He's not going to play football again... to get married and have children and do so many things that he had to do. He's never going to get to do that because of those individuals and I just think that it's got to start with the criminal justice system."

She said she wanted to see tougher sentences for knife possession to act as more of a deterrent, but she hoped Cody's Law would also mean more peace of mind for parents while knife crime was so prevalent.

Mr Vann, who was attacked in the same incident, said he also wanted metal detectors to be mandatory at large events.

"They know it's going to be massive... you can see by the amount of tickets that have been sold and just letting people get in with a little tap down, it's not good enough," he said.

Jonathan Leon, founder of TLG Security in Birmingham, employing 400 people to work at bars, clubs, boxing and football events across the UK, said he was aware of what had happened at the club and how security had struggled.

To hold a large event of between 2,000 and 3,000 people like Crane, Mr Leon said he felt between 28 and 35 security staff were needed, plus extra stewards, a welfare team and a minimum of four ambulances in the medical team.

"You need body searches, metal detectors, drugs, dogs, full medical team... Knife arches should be mandatory and when risk assessments are done for a night, police need to check them but it doesn't always happen," he said.

With the night-time economy struggling, he added, security was typically one of the first things to be cut back.

Mrs Fisher went further, saying the club and its security team had failed in their duty of care.

"I just think that they're shocking, and they've got blood on their hands, without a doubt," she said.

"I feel really strongly that they need to face responsibility for allowing it, because if they hadn't, if they'd been more strict and used the body scanners and done the checks then that knife wouldn't have got in and that wouldn't have happened to Cody on Boxing Day."