JUSTICE for Ryan campaigners have been selling charity Christmas cards to help raise vital campaign funds and to keep the popular footballer's memory alive this festive season.
A number of Black Country businesses have been selling the season's greetings cards featuring pictures of Ryan Passey on the front and and the message 'Remembering those we love at Christmas and all year round' inside.
Members of the Justice for Ryan campaign hope the cards will bring in a few pounds towards legal costs to enable Ryan's family to overturn what they believe was a 'perverse verdict' following the trial in February of Dudley man Kobe Murray who was cleared of killing the 24-year-old self-employed window cleaner (pictured below) despite admitting in court that he "stabbed out" during a fight in Chicago's in August 2017.
Campaign manager Jason Connon said: “We still speak to many people on a daily basis and still not one single person we have met can understand how he was acquitted by the jury, given the overwhelming evidence in support of a murder charge presented to them in court.
"We have been speaking with top legal professionals over the last few months about our campaign and we hope to be in a position in the near future to launch our legal challenge.
"We have always maintained we will not give up in our fight to get Ryan and his family the justice he deserves.
"Our legal challenge will be a difficult and costly one and we need the help and the support of the public to raise vital funds for our campaign."
Mr Connon added: "We would like to say a big thank you to Sarah Jones from The Creative Hut in Stourbridge for helping us design our cards and also to Nic Westley Smith from PCL Digital in Birmingham for printing our Christmas cards.
"Both have offered our campaign invaluable support over the past few months."
Each pack of cards consists of six Christmas cards and envelopes, with three unique designs.
Cushillo Personnel in Lower High Street, Stourbridge, has been selling the cards which come in packs of six with three designs.
They are also available from My Sister's Closet in Stourbridge High Street and The Raven Pub, Woods Lane, Brierley Hill, or by emailing getjustice4ryan@gmail.com.
Campaigners hope to bring about a change in the law to enable the families of the victims of serious crime the chance to appeal in cases of so-called 'perverse verdicts' where jurors have, contrary to evidence in presented in court, acquitted the defendant.
More than 30,000 people have now signed an online petition in support of the campaign.
To sign go to https://www.change.org/p/justice-for-ryan-ryan-s-law.
Meanwhile - those close to the former Stourbridge FC youth player have been doing their bit to keep Ryan's memory alive by siting a Christmas tree outside the former Chicago's nightspot where he lost his life.
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