Arsenal fan Gabriel Stoyanov murdered over drunken bus antics

Gabriel Stoyanov, 21, was stabbed in the chest after he got off the 181 bus in Bromley, south London, on November 4 last year.

Alfie Kibble, 18, from Bexley, and a 17-year-old who cannot be named due to his age, have been found guilty of murdering Gabriel.

A 15-year-old was found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

The 17-year-old had admitted having a knife, and the two other defendants were convicted of possession of an offensive weapon.

The court heard about how Gabriel was “so young, so full of life and dreams, full of energy to achieve them”.

Those who knew him said Gabriel was a massive Arsenal supporter who attended games with his friends.

Gabriel Petrov Stoyanov (Image: Met Police)

In a victim impact statement read out to the court his mother Mariana Petrova said: “Gab has just started his first term at university studying business management. He dreamed of becoming an estate agent.

“He wanted to travel the world and experience different countries and cultures.

“He was thinking of returning to Bulgaria one day to start his own business with a friend who he had known since he was born.

“They took that life from him. They took a part of me too. They took away my son. My best friend.

“I have been denied the right to see grandchildren given my age and the age of my younger son, who is currently three years old.

“He (Gabriel) was stripped of a right to be a big brother.”

She added: “Losing a child is a terrible thing and anyone who has not experienced it cannot understand it, but I assure you that there is nothing worse than this.

“I can assure you there is nothing worse than this. No one has the right to take a human life. No one has the right to tear families apart in this way.”

The court had heard how Gabriel had been out drinking with a friend before they got on the 181 bus and he attempted to engage with the three defendants.

Prosecutor Edward Brown KC had told jurors: “He was killed for being little more than drunk and annoying, perhaps very annoying.

“However, nothing he did reasonably justified, in law or otherwise, being attacked and killed.”

Mr Brown said: “Fortified by drink, Gabriel sought to engage the defendants, and although the defendants do not appear to be unduly troubled by his antics at this stage, his attention was not welcomed.

“It should have been the end of any kind of confrontation – whether in jest, or as a result of being a nuisance or otherwise.”

He had flicked the ear of the 17-year-old youth and punched him in the stomach but without much force before being taken off the bus by his friend.

The defendants got off the bus two stops later and went to the home of the 17-year-old, jurors were told.

They then armed themselves with weapons before lying in wait for the victim outside a takeaway restaurant in Bromley, south-east London.

The 17-year-old had a knife, Kibble had a motorbike chain and the 15-year-old had a bottle.

CCTV showed Gabriel come out of the takeaway and back away as he saw the defendants.

The 15-year-old boy threw a bottle that hit him and Kibble tried to hit him with the motorcycle chain, but missed, jurors were told.

The 17-year-old youth then stabbed Gabriel in the chest with a knife.

Mr Brown said: “The defendants then ran off away down the street, as they immediately did, leaving Gabriel clutching his chest, by now fatally injured.”

Gabriel was rushed to hospital where he died the next day from a single stab wound.

The three defendants denied murder and claimed they acted in self-defence.