THE family of Black Country footballer Ryan Passey who was stabbed and killed in a Stourbridge nightclub have been left devastated after Dudley teenager Kobe Murray was found not guilty of murder following a trial. 

The 19-year-old trainee plasterer, from The Broadway, looked in total shock as the ten-man two-woman jury at Birmingham Crown Court returned its verdict watched on by relatives from both heartbroken families who had packed into the courtroom.

Murray had denied murdering 24-year-old midfielder Ryan (pictured below) - who died after he was stabbed in the chest at Chicago's in the Ryemarket last August - claiming he had pushed with force and "stabbed out" with a knife he'd taken from his friend Bradley Hackett as punches were thrown during a bar fight that lasted only seconds.

Stourbridge News: Undated family handout photo issued by West Midlands Police of murder victim Ryan Passey, 24, who was stabbed in the chest at Chicago’s club in Stourbridge.

He admitted he "felt bone" as he plunged the black and silver flick knife into Ryan's chest, through the sternum and into his heart.

But he said he reacted out of "fear" and he hadn't meant to seriously harm anyone that night - and he insisted he hadn't taken the knife into the town nightspot. 

James House QC, defending, said Murray had instinctively tried to defend himself in the heat of the moment.

But Phil Bradley QC, prosecuting, said Murray had deliberately driven the weapon into Ryan's chest and "that single violent movement brought Mr Passey to the floor".

He told Murray during the trial: "There was nothing to stop you just stepping away and just pushing somebody aside."

Murray, giving evidence, had replied: "Thinking about it maybe yes."

The court was told that he later admitted to friends and his father Errol Murray that he had stabbed someone and that his mobile phone and clothes had been disposed of but when questioned by police he replied no comment to all questions - instead presenting a prepared statement suggesting he could not recall exactly what happened as he had been "attacked" and was "intoxicated".

In his summing up before the jury retired High Court judge The Honourable Mr Justice Goose told jurors if they were unable to conclude Mr Passey’s death was murder they may consider a manslaughter verdict.

However the jury concluded Murray was also not guilty of the lesser offence.

Both families left the courtroom in tears and disbelief after the jury read out its verdict and Ryan's distraught mum Gillian Taylor said afterwards: "I just can't believe it. I'm in total shock. I've got no faith in the justice system whatsoever."

Ryan's heartbroken dad Adrian Passey added: "It's disgusting."

Stourbridge News:

Family friend Jason Connon said: "We're just numb. What we can't understand is that he admitted stabbing Ryan in front of a jury. Now they've found him not guilty of murder or manslaughter.

"We're worried it sends out the wrong message about knife crime. It says you can carry a knife and go into a nightclub, stab someone and go to court and admit it in the witness box and still not get any kind of punishment."

He said it was "as if the jury had been listening to a different trial" and he added: "I don't think the family will ever be able to accept that decision.

"We're just numb and shocked. It's like as though Ryan's life meant nothing."

Stourbridge News:

Ryan's uncle John Passey said: "It's one of the worse cases of injustices I've ever heard in my life."