Shiloh Pottinger was found guilty of manslaughter last month after the death of 19-year-old Luke O'Connor in Manchester in October 2022.

A jury at Manchester Crown Court heard that the pair were involved in an argument as Mr O'Connor and his friends walked home from a party in the city's student area of Fallowfield.

When a light-hearted comment was made about Pottinger's skateboard, a fight broke out and Mr O'Connor was stabbed repeatedly with the flick-knife.

The Manchester Metropolitan University student was taken to hospital but died a short while later.

Pottinger, a music producer and student at BIMM university, made a "pathetic" over-reaction to the joke with threats of violence, but rugby player Luke, in the second year of a business degree, refused to be cowed and instead stood up to him and laughed, the court heard.

Pottinger first used his skateboard to attack Mr O'Connor then stabbed him eight times with the blade before running off.

The defendant - who was 19 at the time of the killing - denied murder and claimed he had been acting in self-defence.

The judge ruled that he must serve 10 years before being considered for release.

In a statement read outside court, Jason O'Connor said his son Luke was "the glue" in their family and that their lives "feel empty without him".

Mr O'Connor said: "Luke was extremely loving, considerate and generous and we all enjoyed spending lots of time with him.

"Luke had a truly infectious love of life with many ambitions and hopes which unfortunately he did not get to fulfil.

"He did not get to fulfil these hopes and ambitions because his life was snatched away from him by a coward with a knife. Shiloh Pottinger, who has shown no remorse.

"Luke was killed by eight knife wounds to the body in a random attack following a flippant skateboard comment."

Mr O'Connor said the 15-year sentence did not "reflect the magnitude of the crime or the loss of Luke's life".

He called for stricter sentences for knife crimes and more control on the access to knives.