Spotify star, 19, is convicted of killing student, 19, in horrific knife attack after being mocked

• Stabbing Shiloh Pottinger (19) and Luke O’Connor (19) eight times with a 13 inch knife
• One of Murderer’s tracks has been listened to over 500,000 times on Spotify

A musician has been acquitted of murdering a student in a horrific late-night knife attack sparked by “stupid and frivolous” remarks about his skateboarding skills.

In the latest horrific death from knife crime in Britain, Shiloh Pottinger stabbed 19-year-old Luke O’Connor eight times with a 13-inch “Mafia stiletto” blade last October.

Pottinger, also 19, claimed he was in self-defense and was found guilty today of not manslaughter of Mr O’Connor, a sophomore in business administration at Manchester Metropolitan University.

He is said to face a “long term” in prison when he is brought back to court next month.

One of Pottinger’s songs, the son of a rapper and an up-and-coming musician himself, has been listened to more than 500,000 times on streaming platform Spotify.

Another song has the line “Mommy told me never to play with knives when I was young.”

O’Connor, from Bedfordshire, was returning home from a house party with two friends in the heart of Manchester’s college town when an argument broke out between them.

One of them, Charles Robertson, walked past Mr Pottinger with his skateboard and asked, “Can I do a kickflick?”, according to the Manchester Court.

Prosecutor Mark Ford KC claimed it was “intended to be a silly, lighthearted comment.”

However, Pottinger himself, a music student who has released music under the name OSU, “didn’t take it well” and reacted in a “violent and unpredictable” manner.

He first hit Mr. O’Connor in the head with a skateboard, then attacked with the skateboard flying out of his hand when he attempted a second attack.

Surveillance footage shown to the jury showed Mr. Pottinger threatening Mr. O’Connor with a flick knife and the two pushing each other.

Mr. O’Connor punched and clung to Mr. Pottinger in a brawl during which Mr. Pottinger was stabbed multiple times.

As they grappled, Pottinger fell to the ground, dropping his knife in the process.

But O’Connor was already mortally wounded, so the jury ruled it was “too late.”

Harrowing footage shown in court showed him lying on the road, covered in blood.

O’Connor was taken to hospital after suffering cardiac arrest, but was pronounced dead at 4:51 a.m.

The jury heard that there were injuries including a dissection of the aorta, a kidney nearly split in two, and one lung collapsed.

Pottinger fled the scene of the attack, got rid of his skateboard and jacket and washed his clothes to avoid detection, but was arrested two days later, prosecutors said.

The bloody knife was purchased online and later recovered by police.

After the attack, Pottinger conducted several searches online, including “How long will you be in prison for murder?” “How much time are you given in a knife murder?”

But he denied killing O’Connor, and a jury acquitted him after 13.5 hours of deliberation.

Instead, they convicted Pottinger of manslaughter by a 10-to-2 majority, who had been sobbing on the docks with his family in the public stands.

O’Connor’s family watched the verdict on the court video link, but his mother walked away without commenting.

The jury ruled that Pottinger had no intention of using the knife and was acting in self-defense.

He said he wanted to show him holding a knife as a “last scare tactic” because he feared O’Connor and his friends would “group”.

He also claimed that the knife was used to tape the skateboard and he did not intend to take it out that night.

Pottinger’s barrister Siobhan Gray KC claimed that Mr. O’Connor, who was 6 feet 2 inches tall, was “towing” the defendant and “intended to fight.”

But Mr Ford said Mr Pottinger’s story was a “bundle of lies” and a “desperate attempt” to “get away from the consequences of what he did”.

KC Judge Nicholas Dean told Pottinger that he “should not have any illusions” that he had been convicted of a “serious crime.”

“Prolonged detention or imprisonment is inevitable,” he added.

Prior to sentencing, the judge remanded Mr. Pottinger’s custody.

After O’Connor’s death, his family said it “left a hole in our hearts that will never be filled” and paid tribute to the “gentle giant”.

The Home Office said 2021-2022 saw the highest level of knife and sharp-edged homicides in England and Wales in 76 years, with 282 people killed.

On the weekend of the coronation alone, four teenagers and one man in his late twenties were killed in separate knife attacks.