A nightclub reveller who went on a “knife rampage” outside a Bodmin nightclub leaving one man dead and five others injured has been found guilty of murder.
Jake Hill, 25, stabbed six people in a matter of seconds outside the Eclipse nightclub in Bodmin, Cornwall, with a serrated hunting knife.
Hill fatally wounded 32-year-old Mr Riddiough-Allen and slashed and stabbed other victims with a tactical kombat knife he had hidden in bushes while on a night out.
His co-defendant Chelsea Powell was found not guilty of murder and not guilty of manslaughter but guilty of perverting the course of justice.
The jury was sent out on March 7.
The pair had joined a fight between 15 revellers outside the club shortly after 3am on April 30 last year, Truro Crown Court was told.
Hill, of Jubilee Terrace, Bodmin, Cornwall, had denied a total of 12 charges, including one count of murder and the alternative of manslaughter, three counts of attempted murder and the alternative of wounding with intent, and two charges of wounding with intent and the alternative of unlawful wounding.
Hill had started the trial along with, Tia Taylor, 22, and Chelsea Powell, 22, who had all been inside the club and had joined the altercation outside the club.
However the jury stopped considering charges against Tia Taylor after it was revealed to them that she’d pleaded guilty to manslaughter and perverting the course of justice part way through the trial.
Both Taylor, of Northey Road, Bodmin, and Powell, of Granny’s Green, Bodmin had been charged with one count of murder and the alternative of manslaughter, and one count of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
However the charges against Taylor were withdrawn after the prosecution accepted a plea of manslaughter part way through the trial.
The jury unanimously found Hill guilty of murder. Jake Hill was also convicted of four counts of Section 18 wounding with intent by a jury at Truro Crown Court. He was found not guilty of one count of Section 18 wounding with intent.
Chelsea Powell was found not guilty of murder and manslaughter. She was found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
Sentencing will take place on April 12.
The judge thanked the jury for their service and discharged them from serving for another ten years.
The incident occurred during an altercation on Castle Canyke Road in the early hours of 30 April 2023.
Mr Riddiough-Allen, from Liskeard, was an innocent bystander who tried to intervene and disarm Hill, the court heard.
Powell and Taylor both deliberately lied to frustrate the police in their investigation.
The court hear that Mr Riddiough-Allen suffered a single stab wound to his abdomen and died at the scene.
Hill was found hiding in the loft at Taylor’s address following the stabbing - after she told officers nobody else was home.
The convictions follow a six-week trial at Truro Crown Court. The case was adjourned for sentencing on 12 April.
Detective Constable Emma Norrish, of Devon & Cornwall Police’s Major Crime Investigation Team, said: “We welcome the verdict reached by the jury after hearing the evidence and deliberating on their decisions.
“This has been a long and complex investigation and trial and we now await the sentencing of the three defendants.
“I hope the outcome reached today will begin to bring some closure to Michael’s family and friends, and to the surviving victims.”
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