A teenager has been convicted of murdering dad-of-four James Gibbons in an attack outside his home in Laindon. James, 34, was stabbed four times in Iris Mews at around 9.30pm on Sunday 2 May. He had been holding a birthday party for his two young daughters. Sadly, despite the best efforts of medics and our officers, James died at the scene. James was stabbed four times by the teenager in an alleyway off Iris Mews after he had defended a man being abused by a group of young people. A 16-year-old boy from Laindon was arrested and charged with his murder. The teenager claimed he had brought a knife to the scene to protect himself against James, but the prosecution discredited this defence and he was today found guilty of murder at Chelmsford Crown Court after a five-week trial. He will be sentenced on a date yet to be fixed, at least four weeks from today. In the hours after the murder, the teenager admitted to the stabbing in message in a Snapchat group, adding: “I don’t care, I’m a psychopath”. He added: “I’ve just M someone off and that,” before finishing the conversation saying: “I might as well go and kill everyone else I don’t like”. Speaking after the jury returned its verdict,
