THE PAIN NO PARENT CAN ENDURE..! – Sixteen-year-old Rhamero West was chased through the streets “like a pack of wolves” before he was fatally stabbed in Old Trafford, never making it home to his family.
In her own emotional words, standing on the steps of a court in which she heard the most callous evidence, the mum of Rhamero West made a pledge four years ago to change Manchester’s streets.
Her son, then aged just 16, had been chased through the streets and knifed to death in broad daylight.
It had been Rhamero’s first day of a college course. Afterwards, the teenager, and nephew of ex Man-City star Shaun Wright-Phillips, went to go and see his friends. It was September 9 2021.
Tragically, he would never make it home.
Instead he was brutally killed and left for dead. Chased down ‘by a pack of wolves’ and hopping into gardens as he desperately tried to flee, he was then callously stabbed along Norton Street in Old Trafford and later pronounced dead.
What followed was a major police murder probe. The teenager’s family have now been dragged through two trials, some gruelling four years apart, with many of the details now only able to be revealed for the first time due to reporting restrictions.
On September 9, 2021, Rhamero and his friends had driven to Millennium Park in the Moss Side area. He would shortly after be hunted down and stabbed to death.
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Rhamero West(Image: GMP)
A motive for the brutal killing of Rhamero has never been put forward by prosecutors. At the time, Rhamero was driving a stolen BMW and was with friends when he was spotted on Princess Road at rush hour at about 6pm.
A BMW 1 Series and BMW 3 Series drove past at speed, when another defendant, then 17-year-old Marquis Richards, approached the driver’s side of the car and lunged, with a large knife, several times towards the driver.
Richards and Cashin then fled in the two BMWs which pursued the vehicle Rhamero was in along Moss Lane East. The chase resulted in a collision with another car and a tree. Rhamero and his friends quickly got out and sped away on foot in the direction of Darnley Street. Prosecuting, Guy Gozem KC said the boys were ‘running in fear for their lives’.
Richards, armed with a large knife, got out of the BMW 1 Series and chased Rhamero and his friends onto Norton Street. When Richards appeared to run out of breath he handed the weapon over to Cashin who took hold of it and took the lead in chasing them.
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Richards armed with a knife is followed by Ryan Cashin(Image: GMP)
Rhamero began garden hopping to get away from the offenders. He desperately banged on front doors as he tried to get away. He was forced to lie down to hide in a front garden. Cashin then struck Rhamero with the knife several times, causing serious injury and blood loss. One of the four wounds severed an artery in the back of his left thigh.
The teenager was pronounced dead at 7.36pm.
Local residents had heartbreakingly attempted to administer first aid to Rhamero before paramedics arrived and conducted open heart surgery in the street, but he couldn’t be saved.
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The scene in Old Trafford(Image: MEN Media)
After the killing, Cashin told his mother he was going on the run. He laid low for over a month as detectives from Greater Manchester Police launched a manhunt. He was eventually found and questioned before being charged over the fatal attack.
Rhamero’s family had to endure their first month-long trial where harrowing details of the teenager’s murder were heard. Cashin appeared before a jury alongside accomplice Marquis Richards and a third defendant, 20-year-old Giovanni Lawrence who was said to be a driver of one of two stolen BMWs which pursued Rhamero. Lawrence had also gone on the run following the attack until he was arrested in Cheshire in January the following year.
Cashin was first found guilty of murder, later along with Richards and Lawrence of the same offence. The joint enterprise law allows those deemed to have ‘assisted or encouraged’ an offence to be convicted. There were emotional scenes in the public gallery as the verdicts were announced.
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Mugshots at the time of Ryan Cashin (left), Marquis Richards (middle) and Giovanni Lawrence, (right)(Image: GMP)
Cashin, now 23, of Nancy Street, Manchester; was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum term of 23 years and 142 days. Richards, now 21, of Anne Nuttall Road, Hulme; received a life sentence with a minimum term of 17 years and 113 days.
After his death, Rhamero’s family issued a heartbreaking tribute, and said: “We are all devastated and are now left with an empty hole in our hearts. Mero was a beautiful soul and got on with everyone who he met. He will be sadly missed, lots of love son, we will love you forever – mum, dad, Remi and not forgetting your nephew Caerus.
“We will make sure he will never forget you. Each and everyone in the family right now wishes you were still here. Sleep tight baby boy till we meet again. We love you forever.”
His mum, Kelly Brown said: “To the court, my boy is just a statistic – another case – but to me this is real life and my beautiful fun-loving, caring, respectable boy who loved his family. He was looking forward to his first day at college and he enjoyed even just his short time of space there. Rhamero was going to see his friends after college and he never made it home.
“All those involved in taking my son’s life will serve their time and justice will prevailed. However during this time we know that they will still be able to have contact with family and will one day be released back into society.
“Their families will not suffer the way we have. These people will still be able to set and achieve goals, have a family, go on holidays and be around all those that love them. This was robbed from Rhamero. We are doing a life sentence and things will never be the same again for us and his family.”
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Kelly Brown, mother of Rhamero West(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)
At the time, Ms Brown vowed to change Manchester’s streets. In memory of her son, she established Mero’s World Foundation to help prevent other families going through what hers endured. Kelly raised money to set up some 20 bleed cabinets around the city, which are kits for public use in the event of a stabbing or any other incident which leads to blood loss.
Detective Chief Inspector Liz Hopkinson, of GMP’s Major Incident Team, said at the time: “Rhamero was only 16-years-old when he was violently, and needlessly, murdered in broad daylight by a group of teenagers. No parent should ever have to receive the news that their child has been killed and the perpetrators, refusing to admit responsibility, have only added to their suffering by forcing them to endure the pain of a trial.”These three caused carnage across South Manchester in the lead up to Rhamero’s death and it’s a miracle that no members of the public were also injured as a result of their reckless driving and acts of violence.”
But the family’s pain was far from over. Lawrence, who was also sentenced in 2022, later appealed against his conviction at the Court of Appeal, where senior judges ordered a re-trial in his case.
A second murder trial surrounding Rhamero’s death was then heard at Manchester Crown Court. His family had to relive the trauma of the fateful evening of September 9 2021 and once again hear gruesome details of the night that brutally snatched away Rhamero’s young life.
Lawrence was found guilty of murder again, while another defendant, Shikeo Bell, was also convicted of murder. Bell was identified following the first trial as another suspect, with DNA evidence showing they had been in one of the pursuing BMWs. The second case can now be reported after restrictions were lifted.
Lawrence, now 24, of Colgrove Avenue, Manchester, and Bell, now 22, of no fixed address but from Moss Side, were found guilty of murder. They will be sentenced later this week.
