The senseless Easter pub brawl that left a young man dead

Joe O'Brien, 24, died after an Easter night out took a dark turn

It was the Easter weekend. Momodou Jallow and Daniel Kamara were out enjoying themselves.

A barbecue at Kamara's house was followed by drinks with friends at Club 409 in Failsworth. Spirits were high and by all accounts the atmosphere in the club was good.

But for some unknown reason 21-year-old Jallow was carrying a knife. If trouble broke out, however minor, it drastically increased the chances that someone would get seriously hurt.

And tragically and senselessly that's precisely what happened. At around 3am on Easter Sunday, 2019, Joe O'Brien was at a party with some pals when they got a call from another mate who was outside the Royal Oak pub in the centre of Failsworth.

The friend was 'panicking'. Things were 'kicking off' and 'four or five' lads were coming for him, he said.

Joe and his two pals jumped in a Vauxhall Astra and drove to the scene. It was a split-second decision that would end up costing Joe his life.

As a judge later described, the 24-year-old barrister's clerk was 'was simply and tragically in the wrong place at very much the wrong time'. Outside the Royal Oak things the mood turned sour.

Prosecutors would later say they could not pinpoint 'what led to the violence, just that it happened’. It came 'out of nothing' and quickly blew out of all proportion, exploding into a bloody drunken brawl which left two young men stabbed, one dead, and two others on trial for murder.

The first trouble flared when a driver in a white BMW 3 Series arrived on the scene, 'driving mad' and 'showing off'. Then an argument broke out between Jallow and a woman.

Kamara said he stepped in as a peacemaker. But then someone approached him and the former Salford University student responded by reaching into his waistband. Prosecutors would later say he was going for a weapon, Kamara insisted he was just pulling his trousers up.

Things rapidly escalated. Kamara was hit, Jallow was dragged off by a group, Kamara was punched going to his friend's aid.

During the melee a man was stabbed several times. Kamara, who fell over, then found himself curled up in the foetal position as he was attacked by a mob.

Into the 'screaming and fighting', as a witness described it, came the Vauxhall Astra containing Joe and two of his friends. As he got out of the car and moved towards the brawl, Joe was stabbed in the neck by Jallow. The knifeman fled the scene in a taxi.

Paramedics arrived at the scene and Joe, a Manchester United fan, was taken to hospital. Tragically he died a short time later.

As news of his death emerged, a shrine opposite the Royal Oak pub began to take shape. Mourners laid pictures and flowers while friends gathered at the nearby Failsworth Pole to chat, play music and share memories of Joe.

"Nothing is going to bring Joe back - but the one thing we can do as a community is show that we care. It's about the only thing we can do," friend Anthony Whitehead, said at a 5km walk held in Joe's memory a fortnight after his murder.

As a community mourned, detectives were hard at work bringing the killers to justice. CCTV footage, meticulously compiled by police, caught the moment Jallow delivered the fatal blow, although he would deny that the person filmed was him.

Jallow, Kamara and a third man, 18-year-old Darius Evans, were arrested and put on trial in Liverpool. Kamara, 22, didn't stab Joe, but prosecutors argued that he was still responsible for his death, because each was 'backing the other'.

Neither did it matter that the pair hadn't been 'targeting any particular individual', the prosecution said. Kamara was placed at the scene after an earring of his was recovered, and blood belonging to the man who was stabbed was found on his trousers and right trainer.

At the halfway point of the four week trial, Evans was found not guilty on the direction of the judge, who ruled that there was 'insufficient evidence' for a jury to convict him. But the case against Jallow and Kamara continued, and after their deliberations, the jury found the pair guilty of Joe's killing.

Jallow, Ashley Lane, Moston, was found guilty of murder and possession of a blade and jailed for life with a minimum of 22 years. Kamara, 22, of Beswick Drive, Failsworth, was found not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter and unlawful wounding in connection with the stabbing of the other victim and sentenced to 11 years in prison.

Joe's murder took place on a Bank Holiday weekend of knife crime in Greater Manchester. A man in his 20s was knifed to death in Beswick, a dad was left fighting for life in Blackley and a 17-year-old boy was seriously injured in Gorton.

Sending Jallow and Kamara, Judge Andrew Menary QC said the barrister's clerk was a victim of 'this modern scourge'.

He added: "He was no threat to you when you went for him and stabbed him the neck severing a major blood vessel. His death was tragically inevitable.

"It happened in a moment but this chain of events began when you decided to go out that night with a knife in your pocket. The tragic events on the night of April 21, 2019 were the result of pointless, senseless violence and public disorder on the streets of Failsworth which has no obvious explanation other than a desire by you and your friends to cause trouble.

"The facts of the case demonstrate all too clearly and yet again what can happen when young men carry knives."

This devastation was summed by Joe's mum, Roz McDonald, who said in the aftermath of her son's death: "Joe was a much loved son, brother, grandson, uncle, nephew and friend to many. He was hard working and had a great sense of humour. He was kind and generous, both with his time and with his money.

"His friends, his family and Manchester United were his life. Joe worked as a barrister's clerk at Deans Court Chambers in Manchester and he loved this job.

"The majority of Joe's time was spent either with his friends, or caring for his mother, who he always put first."