Teenager jailed for killing boy

A teenager was jailed for life today for murdering another boy in a row over a games console.

Shane Boyd, 16, stabbed Conor Black to death after confronting him outside a party in Manchester over the alleged theft of an Xbox console, police said.

Manchester Crown Court heard that joinery student Black, also 16, was attacked after he arrived with friends at a house party in August last year.

Boyd approached him, struck him on the head with a can of beer and then stabbed him in the back with a kitchen knife as he tried to escape. Black managed to get away from the house but collapsed a short distance away and died on the way to hospital.

His killer then bragged to people at the party that he was "the best" and threatened to kill anyone who gave his name to the police.

Sentencing him to at least 11 years behind bars, the judge said using a knife was no way to settle a row about a games console.

"We are all devastated by Conor's death," his family said in a statement.

"All the hopes and dreams of a family were crushed when Conor's life was stolen in that terrible, violent way."

Britain has seen a rise in violent street crime involving teenagers in the last year, with two youngsters stabbed to death in London yesterday alone.