My son was the man that you’ll never be’: Mum’s message to knifeman who killed her boy over a ‘flippant’ remark about his skateboarding skills
- Shiloh Pottinger, 20, was confronted by the mother of his victim Luke O’Connor
A musician who stabbed a university undergraduate to death over a ‘flippant’ remark about his skateboarding skills was yesterday told his victim had been ‘the man you will never be’.
Shiloh Pottinger, 20, was confronted by the mother of his victim Luke O’Connor as she delivered a blistering rebuke at his sentencing hearing.
Telling Pottinger – who refused to meet her gaze – that she would not let his name ‘pass my lips’, Carolyn O’Connor said that, in his 19 years, her son ‘made more of a difference to this world than you ever will’.
Pottinger, who bought a 13in ‘Mafia Stiletto’ flick-knife online before stabbing Luke eight times in Manchester last October, was yesterday jailed for 15 years in another tragic example of Britain’s knife crime epidemic.
It comes days after two Nottingham University students were stabbed to death as they walked home from a night out.
Carolyn O’Connor (pictured) said that, in his 19 years, her son ‘made more of a difference to this world than [his killer] ever will’
The mother of victim Luke O’Connor (pictured) confronted killer Shiloh Pottinger, 20, as she delivered a blistering rebuke at his sentencing hearing
Music student Pottinger was last month convicted of the manslaughter of Luke, a 19-year-old second-year business management student at Manchester Metropolitan University, after he was cleared of murder, claiming he had acted in self-defence. Yesterday a judge said Pottinger lashed out because he felt ‘humiliated’ by students laughing at him.
A petty row had broken out while Luke, from Bedfordshire, was walking home from a house party with two friends. One asked Pottinger – who was holding a skateboard – if he could ‘do a kick-flip’, a popular skateboarding trick.
Pottinger then hit Luke on the head with his board before it flew out of his hand when he tried to strike again, Manchester Crown Court heard. Chilling CCTV images released yesterday show Pottinger threatening Luke with the flick-knife as he tried to push him away.
Pottinger then repeatedly stabbed the keen rugby player, causing catastrophic blood loss.
Pottinger, (pictured) who bought a 13in ‘Mafia Stiletto’ flick-knife online before stabbing Luke eight times in Manchester last October, was yesterday jailed for 15 years
Chilling CCTV images released yesterday show Pottinger threatening Luke with the flick-knife as he tried to push him away
During the trial, Pottinger’s barrister had claimed Luke, who was 6ft 2in tall, was ‘towering over’ the defendant and ‘up for a fight’.
But Luke’s mother said her son and his two brothers had always been taught that ‘it takes a stronger man to walk away’.
‘Luke was not looking for a fight,’ she said. ‘I know he wasn’t.’ Addressing Pottinger in court yesterday, she said he had ‘shown no remorse’, adding: ‘You took [Luke’s] last breath. You tore our hearts out and shattered our lives.’ By contrast, her son could ‘light up any room he went into’.
Mrs O’Connor, who also appeared in an anti-knife video put out by police, added: ‘Luke made me proud every single day of his life. That is one thing that can never be taken away from me.’ Sentencing Pottinger, judge Nicholas Dean KC said: ‘You’ve felt sorry for one person and one person only. That person is yourself.’
He said Pottinger bought and carried the knife – which the killer had described as a ‘fashion statement’ – because it gave him ‘a sense of empowerment’. Pottinger, an up-and-coming musician, had written in one of his tracks: ‘Mummy said when I was younger I should never play with knives.’
After the sentencing, Luke’s father Jason O’Connor asked: ‘How many more parents, families and friends have to go through the pain and the heartache that knife crime brings?’ He branded Pottinger a ‘coward’ who had killed his son over a ‘flippant’ comment. Mr O’Connor said the sentence ‘does not reflect the magnitude of the crime or the loss of Luke’s life’.
Referring to the Nottingham stabbings, he added: ‘As we have seen from Luke’s death, and others only this week, knife crime is becoming more and more of a common occurrence. As a society we need to find a way to control the access to knives and to push for changes to the law.’
Home Office figures show murders involving a knife or other sharp instrument in England and Wales were at their highest level in 76 years in 2021-22, at 282 deaths.
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