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Llanelli: Man guilty of assisting Ashley Sarsero murderer

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Ashley SarseroImage source, Family photo
Image caption,

Ashley Sarsero died after being stabbed in the neck by a stranger outside his home

A man has been found guilty of helping a murderer who stabbed someone to death outside their own home.

Steven Morgan, 36, of Station Road, Llanelli, denied assisting an offender but a jury at Swansea Crown Court found him guilty on Thursday.

James Smith, 36, of Nelson Road, Llanelli, has already been found guilty of murdering Ashley Sarsero.

He stabbed Mr Sarsero in the neck with a fishing knife outside his home in the Maestir area of Felinfoel in September.

Smith and Morgan will both be sentenced on Friday.

The trial heard heard how Smith attacked Mr Sarsero "deliberately and without any justification".

Michael Jones KC, prosecuting, said the pair argued in the early hours of 10 September before all three men went outside and Smith produced a knife.

He stabbed Mr Sarsero before fleeing the scene and Morgan told Smith to "run, now" before calling an ambulance.

Morgan was arrested at the scene and Smith turned himself in at the police station the following day.

Smith met Morgan at Penyfan quarry on the evening of 9 September and the pair smoked cannabis and drank alcohol together.

They then encountered Mr Sarsero's mother, Clare Richards, who asked them to walk her home as it was late and she was "alone and drunk".

The jury was told Ms Richards invited them in, but when Mr Sarsero returned home he asked who the two men were, before telling them to leave.

An argument broke out between him and Smith, which spilled outside where Smith brandished the blade from his bag.

He had bought a knife matching the description the day before the stabbing, the court heard.

In a tribute paid to Mr Sarsero shortly after his death, his family described him as a "beautiful, precious boy who would light up a room".

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