A 26-year-old man has been convicted of "viciously and cowardly" murdering St Albans man Emille Stapleton.

Paul Crosbie has been jailed for life for stabbing 20-year-old Emille – also known as ‘Milz’ – in London Road in the second of two confrontations between two groups of men on October 24 last year.

Plasterer Crosbie was jailed for life yesterday with an order that he must serve a minimum of 23 years before he can even be considered for parole .

After the verdict at Cambridge Crown Court, Emille's father Lloyd Stapleton said: "I have lost a son and it's not as if we are going to get him back.

"Something has to be done about all the knife crime. St Albans used to be in a bubble but now people come in from outside. You are not safe anywhere.

"It has to stop. He [Crosbie] has a young family and look at his life gone. It's messed up a whole lot of people's lives."

Mr Stapleton added: "I didn't think we would get any justice, because there was fighting on both sides, but we did.

"I welcome the jury's verdict. I feel we have had justice now."

He and his Emille's mother Rosie attended the two-week trial.

Crosbie had pleaded not guilty to murder and to possessing a bladed article in a public place. He claimed he stabbed Mr Stapleton in self-defence.

He alleged that Mr Stapleton, who was 5ft 8in tall and weighed over 16stone, had grabbed him, lifted him off the ground, and was squeezing him so hard he couldn't breathe. He stabbed him as he was bent over his head to make him let go.

But Judge David Farrell QC told Crosbie: "It was a pre-meditated act. You deliberately armed yourself with the lethal weapon, took it out of the flat and on to the street in order to attack a member of the deceased's group and teach them a lesson.

"You saw Mr Stapleton and you viciously and cowardly went up behind him and stabbed him in the back, using significant force, causing a fatal injury from which he died within minutes.

"You took a knife to the scene intending to use it, to stab one of the group. I don't accept that you were provoked to any extent. This was a deliberate, cowardly stab in the back."

The judge added that he wasn't sure Crosbie intended to kill his victim, rather than cause really serious bodily harm. But his crime was aggravated because the defendant had a history of street fighting and had used a knife to wound someone before.

Crosbie had said he unthinkingly took the large kitchen knife out with him when he received a call for help from his friend Tristan Kavanagh because he thought those in the other group might have weapons.

The jury of six men and six women took over nine hours to reach its 10-2 majority verdict on murder. They unanimously found Crosbie guilty of possessing a bladed article. Crosbie has previous convictions for wounding with a knife, for which he was jailed for 30 months in November 2011, affray and assault.

The judge praised the dignified way the victim's family had behaved during the two-week trial during the traumatic evidence.

He also commended the police's thorough investigation.

The court heard how Emille had been in a car with friends at around 1.30am that morning when they came across a group in London Road. One of this group kicked the car so Emille and others got out. A fight then occurred.

They then got back in the car and drove off before heading back to the London Road area at around 3am. They came across one of the men who had been involved in the prior altercation; he was quickly joined by others who came from a block of flats. One of these people was Paul Crosbie.

Another altercation between the two groups then occurred during which Emille was fatally stabbed. After the incident Paul Crosbie fled the scene before calling police three days later to admit what he had done.