A BRITISH boxer has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after being convicted of the murder of a Spanish teenager.
Lewis Briggs, 25, brutally killed 19-year-old Ulrich Perez after he fatally stabbed him in the heart while he was allegedly high on cocaine in 2020.
The alleged attack took place on a zebra crossing in Diana Park between the resorts of Marbella and Estepona as the teenager returned home from a nearby supermarket.
Briggs was found guilty last Monday of jumping out of his Mercedes and fatally stabbing his “defenceless” victim in a “surprise” attack.
Briggs, who said he had boxed professionally after taking the stand on the first day of his trial on September 23, claimed he accidentally stabbed his victim after binging on alcohol and cocaine at an all-night party.
Despite admitting to turning round and getting out of his car with a knife he took from his glove compartment.
Ulrich died after being kicked and then stabbed in the heart just after 2.30pm on November 18, 2020.
He is said to have had a spat with Briggs for driving too fast towards a zebra crossing he was standing by.
A member fro the jury said: “The victim wasn’t prepared for the attack and the proof was that he had still had a shopping bag in his hand.
“He didn’t let go of the bag until the other man kicked him before stabbing him in his left side.
“The attack from the moment the defendant got out of his car to the moment he got back into his vehicle and drove away only lasted about 10 seconds.”
Briggs has now been jailed for 18 years for the savage killing and another two for misguiding the police by changing the number plates on the Mercedes he fled the crime scene in.
However, a public prosecutor urged the sentencing judge to increase his jail sentence by two more years.
Briggs has also been ordered to pay his victim’s mum Tatiana Perez £85,000 in compensation.
Ulrich Perez’s family were not in the courtroom in Malaga at the end of the six-day-long trial to hear jurors return their verdict just over 24 hours after they were sent out to deliberate.
They had to sit through CCTV footage showing the murder during the trial at the Audiencia Provincial Court in Malaga.
The footage is believed to have played a key role in the jury verdict along with a police report into the crime.
Briggs turned round to his victim’s family from the stand soon after the start of the trial and said to them: “I want to say sorry. It was never my intention to kill anyone. It was an accident.”
Although he admitted to killing his victim in a “stupid error” he blamed his late dad in court for stealing his neighbour’s number plates and arranging to have his Merc shipped back to the UK.
This is all before helping him flee Spain via Portugal.
He also used his time on the stand to paint his victim as the more aggressive man on the day of the murder.
Briggs, held in December 2020 near Leeds after a five-week international manhunt and extradited to Spain, is said to have boxed often at the MGM gym.
His mum Michelle burst into tears after hearing her son could be jailed for nearly 25 years in the coming days as two officers led him into custody pending sentencing.
The Brit expat is expected to appeal the court verdict.
