Teen to serve at least 24 years for killing dad-of-seven

A teenager has been jailed for life, with a minimum term of 24 years, for murdering a father-of-seven by stabbing him in the thigh.

Colin Richards, 48, from Grangetown, Cardiff, was killed in Ely in April last year.

Corey Gauci, 19, denied murder, but was found guilty at Cardiff Crown Court on 9 April after a six-week trial.

Five others were also sentenced for offences including violent disorder, assisting an offender and having possession of a bladed article.

The court previously heard Mr Richards sustained a 10cm (3.9in) deep wound to his leg which severed his femoral artery and vein and he bled to death within a minute, following a confrontation with a group wielding knives.

During the trial, jurors heard the case centred around a feud between Christian Morgan, who was a friend of Colin Richards, and the other defendants.

Gauci, 19, was with James O'Driscoll, 27, in the Ely area of Cardiff on 7 April 2024 looking to confront Morgan.

Morgan, 36, from Caerau, Cardiff, had received threatening messages from a former girlfriend, Noreen O'Driscoll, 29, from Ely, Cardiff, saying she was "getting her brothers or the boys to sort him out".

David Elias, prosecuting, told the court James O'Driscoll, along with the other defendants, gathered near Morgan's home with "a plan to do him harm".

Gauci and O'Driscoll were armed with blades and were driven to the area by O'Driscoll's mother, 44-year-old Soraya Somersall, from Butetown, Cardiff, where the two men then confronted Morgan.

O'Driscoll was armed with a machete and chased Morgan whilst Gauci damaged Mr Richards' car and inflicted the lethal wound.

Gauci claimed he was protecting himself and thought Mr Richards was going to attack him, but the court was told he instead followed the victim to the Audi vehicle, which was parked close to alleyway near Heol y Berllan.

Following the attack, Noreen O'Driscoll and Rebecca Ross took the weapons and disposed of them in an attempt to hide the evidence.

Gauci and O'Driscoll also dumped the clothes they had been wearing in a bag and left Cardiff, and were arrested three weeks later in Stoke-on-Trent.

During the sentencing, the judge Mr Justice Griffiths was told that Gauci had previously been convicted of threatening people with a machete on Cardiff's St Mary Street whilst wearing a balaclava.

He had also attacked an inmate in a detention centre with a makeshift weapon. A member of staff was also injured in that incident.

Mr Justice Griffiths told Gauci: "You stabbed Colin Richards when he posed no threat to anyone. He was trying to get away."

The judge said he was "certain" that Gauci "took the knife intending to use it and you did in fact use it".

"You are a seasoned offender who knew the consequences of knife crime", he said.

Soraya Somersall, 44, was sentenced to two years and six months for assisting an offender, while Noreen O'Driscoll, 29, was sentenced to three years in prison for the same offence.

James O'Driscoll, 27, was sentenced to four years with an extended license period of one year for violent disorder and possession of a bladed article.

Rebecca Ross was sentenced to two years for assisting an offender and possession of a bladed article.

In April, the jury also found Christian Morgan guilty of possessing a bladed article, but failed to reach a decision on a violent disorder charge.

He was was given a sentence of 12 months suspended for two years for possession of a bladed article.

In a personal impact statement, Colin Richards' mother Pamela Grant told the court that her son had a "sensitive and caring side" which he rarely showed "beneath his tough exterior".

She said "he was the life of the party, with a big personality who did things his own way".

Colin Richards' partner, Toni Marie Clayton, with whom he had two young children, told the court that "it breaks my heart they'll never know their daddy".

She added: "We had so many plans but that has been taken from us now."