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Islington Tribune - by ROISIN GADELRAB
Published: 25 January 2008

Drug dealer found guilty of manslaughter

A “SMALL-time” drug dealer has been found guilty of manslaughter in a retrial over the part he played in a street brawl which left a man dead.
Shane Riley, 22, will return to the Old Bailey in March to learn his fate following the clash in September 2006, resulting in the death of Valston Murraine.
Mr Riley, of President House, King Square, Finsbury, was found guilty on Tuesday of the manslaughter of Mr Murraine, of Six Acres Estate, Finsbury Park.
The former friends had clashed in front more than 30 bystanders in a dispute over cash in Grosvenor Avenue, Highbury. Mr Murraine was knifed four times, sustaining three superficial injuries and a fatal strike through his heart.
Mr Murraine, 20, a regular at the Michael Sobell gym in Finsbury Park, had £1,000 in £20 notes in his breast pocket when he was stabbed in the chest.
The knife, allegedly wielded by Mr Riley, went straight through the banknotes and into his chest. Mr Riley denied manslaughter and claimed self defence.
DI Tim Wilkinson of the Met’s homicide and serious crime command unit said: “The key issues in this case have shown the dangers inherent for young men in becoming seduced by the lucrative world of the supply of heroin, carrying a knife in the name of self protection and using it in the settlement of a score. If you could remove the knife from the equation of that fight last September [...] Valston would still be alive and Riley would be free.
“I would like to praise the witnesses who were prepared to come forward and give evidence in this case and see justice done.”
At a trial last July Mr Riley was not guilty of murder and the jury were unable to come to a decision on the manslaughter charge. The retrial began last week.

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