{"id":540286,"date":"2025-10-31T17:38:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T17:38:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/540286\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T17:38:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T17:38:14","slug":"tyson-furys-cousins-murderer-moaned-he-was-too-immature-to-spend-that-long-in-jail-it-fell-on-deaf-ears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/540286\/","title":{"rendered":"Tyson Fury’s cousin’s murderer moaned he was too immature to spend that long in jail, it fell on deaf ears"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liam O’Pray is serving a life sentence for fatally stabbing Rico Burton<\/p>\n

12:50, 31 Oct 2025Updated 13:06, 31 Oct 2025<\/p>\n

\"LiamLiam O’Pray is serving a life sentence(Image: GMP)<\/p>\n

Three judges<\/a> have given their reason for dismissing Liam O’Pray’s appeal<\/a> against his life sentence for murdering Tyson Fury’s<\/a> cousin.<\/p>\n

O’Pray was 21 when he stabbed Rico Burton, 31, in the neck with a lock knife following a fight in Altrincham<\/a> in the early hours of August 22, 2022.<\/p>\n

Mr Burton, a father-of-one, died after the seven-inch blade caused massive blood loss.<\/p>\n

His attacker, previously of Little Moss Lane, Swinton<\/a>, was convicted of murder following a trial at Manchester Crown Court<\/a> in July 2023.<\/p>\n

Join our Court and Crime WhatsApp group HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

O’Pray, now 25, was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 28 years in prison.<\/p>\n

He was also found guilty of wounding with intent for slashing and stabbing Harvey Reilly, who was 17 at the time of the attack.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Pray\u2019s lawyers previously told the Court of Appeal in London that the minimum term was ‘manifestly excessive’ and should be reduced because his immaturity had not been properly analysed by the sentencing judge.<\/p>\n

\"RicoRico Burton(Image: Rico Burton\/Facebook)<\/p>\n

But in a judgement issued today (October 31), three judges gave their reasons for the appeal being dismissed.<\/p>\n

Mrs Justice Stacey, sitting with Lord Justice Holgate and Judge Adrienne Lucking KC, said that the sentencing judge ‘had taken full account of the appellant\u2019s lack of maturity’.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cA significant reduction for age and immaturity had thus been made, and we do not find the sentence to have been manifestly excessive and the appeal is dismissed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following Mr Burton’s murder, former world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury urged lawmakers to get tough on knife crime.<\/p>\n

Mr Fury, originally from Wythenshawe<\/a>, said: “The United Kingdom is supposed to be one of the safest countries in the world, and yet we can’t go down the street with a watch on our wrist or anything because we’re going to get stabbed.<\/p>\n

\"TysonTyson Fury(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

“The government needs to make this tougher on these little cowards who carry knives and weapons.”<\/p>\n

Mr Burton’s mother Deborah described her son as her ‘Golden Boy’ in a victim impact statement read in court, adding: “Throughout the whole traveller community, Rico will never be forgotten.<\/p>\n

“On the day he died, a piece of me died inside. I have had my heart ripped out and cut into pieces.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liam O’Pray is serving a life sentence for fatally stabbing Rico Burton 12:50, 31 Oct 2025Updated 13:06, 31…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540287,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[8831,30,188,12,1290,6805,1289,8311,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-540286","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-altrincham","10":"tag-courts","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-salford","14":"tag-swinton","15":"tag-trafford","16":"tag-tyson-fury","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115470003275530104","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}