Two people have walked freeAlex Driscoll Breaking news reporter and Callum Parke and Rod Minchin PA
15:28, 30 Oct 2025Updated 16:23, 30 Oct 2025
Mikey Roynon.(Image: Copyright remains with handout provider)
Two people jailed for the killing of a young rapper at a 16th birthday party in Somerset have had their manslaughter convictions quashed at the Court of Appeal, it can now be reported.
Cartel Bushnell and Leo Knight were sentenced to nine years and nine-and-a-half years, respectively, in youth detention in May 2024 after being convicted of the manslaughter of 16-year-old Mikey Roynon.
Mikey, from Bristol, was fatally stabbed in the neck with a large knife during a house party in Bath, in June 2023.
Fellow teenager Shane Cunningham was convicted of murder and detained for life with a minimum term of 16 years.
Leo Knight.(Image: Copyright remains with handout provider)
Cunningham, Bushnell and Knight, who were all 16 at the time of their convictions, sought to challenge their convictions at the Court of Appeal in May this year.
In a ruling that month, the Lady Chief Justice Baroness Carr, Mr Justice Bryan and Mr Justice Cavanagh quashed Bushnell and Knight’s convictions, while dismissing Cunningham’s appeal bid.
The ruling could not be reported due to a retrial scheduled to begin in November, but on Wednesday, the three judges said the prosecution had “offered no evidence” in either case, meaning reporting restrictions could be lifted.
In their judgement, Baroness Carr said there had been an “accidental, but critical, error” in directions given to the jury around how to reach their verdict, making the convictions “unsafe”.
Cartel Bushnell.(Image: Copyright remains with handout provider)
Mikey was among dozens who attended the house party in Eastfield Avenue, Weston in 2023.
A Bristol Crown Court trial heard he was stabbed in the garden and collapsed on the driveway, with two weapons later recovered by police.
The first knife, which was found in a drain, was nearly 10in (25cm) long, and scientists found Mikey’s blood on the blade.
The second knife, which was recovered from underneath a hedge, was 7in (18cm) long and had traces of Mikey’s airborne blood on the blade – meaning it was close to the victim when he was stabbed.
Shane Cunningham.(Image: PA Media)
During the trial, Cunningham, of Devizes, Wiltshire, claimed he was acting in self-defence when he stabbed Mikey after claiming his victim had swung a knife towards his friends in the garden.
Mr Justice Saini ruled that Cunningham, Bushnell, and Knight could be identified at their sentencing hearing, despite their ages, following an application by the PA news agency.
Passing sentence, the judge said Mikey’s “future looked promising” and that his family had suffered a “loss which is unimaginable”.
He said Bristol and the surrounding areas “are in the middle of a plague of knife crime“.
The appeal hearing was held on May 15 in London, with the ruling quashing Bushnell and Knight’s convictions handed down on May 23.
In the judgement, Baroness Carr said barristers for Bushnell had told the Court of Appeal that Mr Justice Saini “inadvertently misdirected the jury” on the question of self-defence.
The three senior judges agreed, with Baroness Carr stating the judge had “no doubt inadvertently, materially misdirected the jury”.
She said: “The directions directed the jury that they could convict Cartel, and Leo, if they were sure that Cartel and Leo may not have acted defensively. This was not the case.
“The jury could only properly convict Cartel and Leo if they were sure that Cartel, or Leo, was not acting in self-defence.”
She continued that the error was not identified by barristers in the trial and that the judge “managed the trial with conspicuous fairness, care and sensitivity”.