A man has been found guilty of fatally stabbing a celebrity boxing coach in the neck after threatening to “ju-jitsu the f***” out of people on a night out.
Ross Hamilton had been “spoiling for a fight” and armed himself with a broken bottle before he plunged it into the neck of Reece Newcombe, 31, the Old Bailey heard.
Mr Newcombe, a friend of ex-footballer and TV pundit Ian Wright, held his neck and said: “I’m dead – he’s done me,” before he collapsed.
Jurors heard Hamilton had three previous convictions for assaulting girlfriends and a taxi driver.
A jury deliberated for 15 hours and 21 minutes to find Hamilton, 34, from Isleworth, west London, guilty of murder and assault by beating.
There were tears and a shout of “yes” from the public gallery, while in the dock Hamilton appeared incredulous and asked the jury: “How?”
Judge Anthony Leonard KC remanded him into custody ahead of sentencing on October 11.
Following the verdict, Mr Newcombe’s family described him as a “shining light” whose life had been “brutally snubbed out by the murderous moronic actions of Ross Hamilton.”
A spokesperson said: “Reece was only able to enjoy being a father to his baby daughter for five months.
“His second daughter whom he would never get to see was born the following summer of 2023 .
“The outpouring of grief after Reece’s passing was unprecedented, this showed the love people held for him. Four thousand people walked behind family members to lay wreaths at the spot where he was brutally murdered a week before.”
The family thanked jurors, police and witnesses who gave evidence in Hamilton’s trial and said: “As a family, still deeply in mourning, our wish going forward is that he now faces the full weight of the law in its entirety.
“The public, including the women he has previously attacked, will sleep better at night in the knowledge that he will no longer be at liberty to harm, maim or murder anybody else after his day of judgment.”
Police had been called to reports of a fight on Richmond Bridge in south-west London in the early hours of November 26 2022.
Prosecutor Louis Mably KC had said the fight was fuelled by “intoxicated aggression” and Hamilton’s decision to arm himself “changed everything”.
Earlier, both Hamilton and Mr Newcombe had been watching England play the USA in a World Cup game being screened in a fanzone in Richmond Park.
Mr Newcombe went on to Viva nightclub in Richmond where he became intoxicated and had a “good time”, jurors were told.
Mr Mably said Hamilton, described as a bald man, had also gone on to the club where be began acting in an “aggressive and unpredictable manner”.
The prosecutor said: “He seemed to be goading people, doing karate kicks on the dance floor and putting his arm around people and behaving aggressively towards them.”
He continued to act aggressively after the club closed and people spilled outside.
Mr Mably said: “He began confronting people, and goading them to go and fight him down an alleyway.
“He said, in his words, ‘I will ju-jitsu the f*** out of you’. In short, the bald man was spoiling for a fight.”
Shortly before 4am, Mr Newcombe made the “tragic decision” to engage with Hamilton, who had already armed himself with a piece of broken glass, jurors heard.
After he was stabbed in the neck, Mr Newcombe’s friends rushed to help him.
Hamilton left the scene but later handed himself in to police, jurors were told.
Mr Mably said: “The sad truth is there was no need for this fight to happen – it was an event that was fuelled by intoxicated aggression. It was not a case of the defendant defending himself, but of two people willing to fight.
“The defendant had armed himself with a weapon and got the fight he was looking for.”
Jurors were told that Hamilton had a violent streak which first led to a conviction in 2014 for punching a taxi driver to the side of the head in a row over a fare.
In 2018, he received a caution for hitting a girlfriend in the face causing her to fall to the ground.
Two years later he was convicted in Spain of hitting another partner in the shoulder with a bottle, kicking her in the stomach and pushing her to the ground.
Unemployed Hamilton had denied murdering Mr Newcombe, claiming he had acted in self-defence.
Giving evidence, he claimed that he had picked up the neck of bottle after being knocked to the floor and he did not know what happened to it.
However, another witness claimed he had already armed himself and put it in his pocket before the fight began.
The defendant also claimed that he did not realise anyone was hurt until he was told by a friend who had left with him in a car.
Detective Inspector Kevin Martin, from Scotland Yard, said: “Reece was simply out having a good night with friends. He was a much loved son, brother, partner and friend to many. He had recently become a father and had so much to look forward to.
“Hamilton was a stranger to him, yet his senseless violence took Reece’s life.”