THREE killers face spending decades behind bars after they were convicted of causing the death of an innocent father in a brutal robbery.

Joseph Jeremy, 18, and Lewis Aquilina, 20, were convicted by a jury of the murder of Ryan O’Connor while Kyle Raisis, 18, was found guilty of manslaughter.

The trio travelled from their native city of Cardiff to neighbouring Newport where their 26-year-old victim was attacked with Rambo or Zombie style knives.

Mr O’Connor was a stranger to them and they selected him at random because they saw him carrying a Gucci bag which they wanted to rob.

Here were we look at the background of three.

Joseph Jeremy

Joseph Jeremy was just 17 when he murdered Mr O’Connor for his Italian designer man bag when armed with a machete or hunting-type knife.

The jury at Newport Crown Court were told about the teenager’s fascination with large blades.

South Wales Argus:

Joseph Jeremy

Jeremy would regularly buy knives online using his father’s driving licence.

Paul Lewis, QC, representing Elliott Fiteni, 19, of no fixed abode, Cardiff, who was cleared of murder, manslaughter and robbery, quipped to the jury: “Jeremy buys knives more often than some of you buy fish and chips.”

Evidence emerged during the trial that Jeremy was a dangerous young man with a taste for violence.

He was asked by barristers if he was addicted to violence with a need for a buzz from dangerous situations.

Jeremy, formerly of Canton, Cardiff, told jurors he was friendly with Brandon Diamond, aka Brandon Liversidge, who was convicted of murdering Harry Baker in Barry and sentenced to life imprisonment last year.

Lewis Aquilina

Although Lewis Aquilina had no previous convictions before he was convicted of murdering Mr O’Connor, the court heard plenty of evidence of his violent streak.

A video of a drunken Aquilina assaulting a young man as he followed him in the street at night was played to the jury.

The defendant, of Canton Court, Riverside, Cardiff, accused his victim of being a “snitch” by speaking to the police.

South Wales Argus:

Lewis Aquilina

He could be heard calling him a “little f****** rat” and a “little b****”.

Aquilina had also “smacked his girlfriend in the mouth” during a Facebook Messenger exchange, it was said.

He had also attacked a woman’s father and boasted “he can’t handle the beating”.

Kyle Raisis

Kyle Raisis is Aquilina’s cousin and a video filmed by Aquilina of a young boy beating up a 16-year-old boy was shown to the court.

Raisis is holding the victim as the youth punches and kicks his victim in the face during the brutal attack.

The court was told Raisis “likes knives”.

His previous convictions for possession of knives was revealed to the jury.

South Wales Argus:

Kyle Raisis

In 2019, Raisis was found with a meat cleaver wrapped in a tea towel in his pocket when he was a passenger in a car stopped by police when it was being driven “erratically”.

A samurai sword and a lock knife were found after officers searched his bedroom in June 2020.

Raisis was stopped driving a stolen car by police in the November of that year and they recovered a kitchen knife in the vehicle.

In February 2021, a “large knife” was seized from his home.

The three defendants were remanded in custody and will be sentenced at a date to be fixed.