CAMPAIGNERS fighting for justice for Ryan Passey believe there may still be witnesses who are withholding vital information about the night the popular footballer was stabbed to death in Chicago’s in Stourbridge.
From Stourbridge News. Original Report by Bev Holder, 19th November 2018.
Family and friends of 24-year-old Ryan, from Quarry Bank, have been left devastated since his shocking death on August 6 last year and following the subsequent trial this year of Kobe Murray from Dudley, the man accused of killing Ryan, who was acquitted of murder and manslaughter despite having testified in court that he “stabbed out” during a scuffle in the former town centre nightspot that fateful night.
Campaigners, however, believe, there are still people out there who may have key details about the night’s events.
Jason Connon, spokesman for the Justice for Ryan campaign, told the News: “What has been really disappointing to us is we know there are witnesses out there that have valuable information about the night Ryan was tragically killed, yet they have still not cooperated with the police - even though they said they would be willing to do so. I would urge them to do the right thing and we would like to appeal to them to come forward and give the police any information that may assist us.”
The Justice for Ryan campaign is calling for a change in the law to give the families of serious crime victims the right to appeal against so-called 'perverse verdicts' where jurors have acquitted a defendant despite what some people believe is overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
To date more than 26,000 people have signed an online petition in support of the campaign, and more than 15,000 have signed a paper petition.
A recent ‘Tackling Knife Crime Together’ event, held at Stourbridge Football Club in partnership with charity Opening Boundaries, also helped to raise awareness of the campaign and raised £10,000 for the Justice for Ryan fund.
Mr Connon said: “We would like to say a big thank you to everyone who helped and supported us to organise our first event and to the whole of our community and other families that have also suffered the loss of the loved ones due to knife crime. It was a very emotional day for us all.”
He said the campaign has received huge support from the community and added: “It really means a lot us to us all and gives us the strength to continue to fight on for justice For Ryan.
“2018 has been another horrendous year for Ryan’s parents, family and friends and we did not think for one moment we would be fighting to overturn such a gross injustice as we are having to do at present.
“Everyone we speak with simply cannot understand how the jury could have possibly come to their decision, given the evidence and testimony available to them.”
Mr Connon is urging members of the public to keep sharing and signing the petition which can be found online at https://www.change.org/p/justice-for-ryan-ryan-s-law. The plan is to get to 100,000 signatures so the campaign calling for a change in the law can be raised by MPs in Parliament.
Meanwhile – Ryan’s family has asked Home Secretary Sajid Javid to intervene in the case, which is currently being reviewed by West Midlands Police.
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