Four men have been found guilty of murdering 22-year-old Byron Griffin in a violent street attack in Ilkeston.
Jordan Fairbrother, Dylan Geary, Daniel Lewsley and Grant Masterson have all been found guilty following a six-week trial at Derby Crown Court, Derbyshire Live reports.
All of them had previously denied being responsible for the death of the young man from East Leake.
Fairbrother did not attend the hearing on Friday (February 18) as it was announced he had been found guilty.
Sobbing was heard from the public gallery as the verdicts were delivered to the court, the jury having taken five days to unanimously find the four defendants guilty.
The court was told Mr Griffin had been victim of an ambush-style attack in broad daylight.
Having started fighting with one of defendants, the other three emerged from a nearby property heavily armed and intent on inflicting catastrophic injuries on the victim.
Prosecutor John Lloyd-Jones QC, opening the trial in early January, said Mr Griffin was found with two stab wounds in Eyre’s Garden, Ilkeston, at around 12.40pm on Sunday, July 4, last year.
The victim was taken to the Queen’s Medical Centre where he was pronounced dead shortly after 2pm.
Mr Lloyd-Jones said shortly before 1pm on the day of the stabbing Mr Griffin and four of his friends arrived at one of the car parks outside the Great Northern Close flats in a blue Ford Focus.
The prosecutor said as they did Masterson was outside, and that Mr Griffin got out of the car and two began fighting.
He said: "Almost immediately, the three other defendants came out of the nearby block of flats - the group were all armed.
"Masterson had access to a hidden baseball bat, Geary had a machete, Lewsley had an extendable police-style baton and Fairbrother was carrying a knife.
"We say the fact they all appeared so quickly is that they were ready for an ambush.
"Masterson picked up a baseball bat hidden behind a drainpipe and hit Mr Griffin with it.
"A friend of Byron Griffin, who had got out of the car, was able to disarm Mr Masterson and hit him on the head with it.
"As the incident developed, Mr Griffin became separated from his friends and, at one stage, was lying on the ground.
"Witnesses saw Dylan Geary hit him with a machete and witnesses also saw Jordan Fairbrother waving a knife around, go up to Byron Griffin and stab him in the chest with it."
Mr Lloyd-Jones said the knife was later recovered by the police who found it hidden in a large bag of dog food at one of the defendant's flats.
He said on it was the DNA of both Fairbrother and Lewsley.
The prosecutor said: "But what happened to the wounded Byron Griffin?
"He also tried to get away but he ran in a different direction to his friends.
"He ran down an alleyway or jitty which came to a dead end.
"Byron Griffin, in his desperation to escape, part fell over and was part-propelled through a broken panel and stumbled down Eyre's Gardens holding the wound to his chest.
"Fairbrother was overheard to say to Masterson 'he's done, he's not coming back'.
"Jordan Fairbrother was right because Byron Griffin was done, he did not come back."
He said a stab wound to his chest had passed between two ribs and penetrated his heart causing the death.
Mr Lloyd-Jones said Geary and Lewsley were arrested at the flats but Masterson and Fairbrother "tried to lie low" and were arrested at different addresses a few days later.
Geary, 22, Lewsley, 32 and Masterson, 29, all of Great Northern Close and 26-year-old Fairbrother, of Nelson Street, Swadlincote, will be sentenced at a later date.
Speaking in court, Judge Nirmal Shant QC, Honorary Recorder of Derby, thanked the jury for their service.
She said: "I am not going to deal with sentencing today.
"I know this is a particularly difficult time for people. This is your public duty outside of wartime the only public duty but it is an onerous one.
"Thank you very much for the careful attention you have given in this case."
Speaking n December, Mr Griffin's mum Zoe Cooke, from West Bridgford, said Christmas "will never be the same again" as her family try to come to terms with what happened.
But she said she was determined not to let him "die in vain" with Ms Cooke having devoted her time to providing bleed kits.
She is also raising money and awareness around knife crime and potential life-saving equipment.
