Man who trained at gym linked to Daniel Kinahan to appear in Spanish court on murder charges

A British amateur boxer who used to train at a gym linked to Irish crime boss Daniel Kinahan is due to go on trial on the Costa del Sol today for the brutal murder of a Spanish teenager in an act of “aggression behind the wheel”.

Lewis Harry Briggs (24) faces a prison sentence of up to 23 years if he is found guilty of stabbing Ulrich Perez (19) in the heart and changing the license plates of his rented Mercedes after the murder.

Nine jurors are to decide the fate of the Briton in a court in Malaga.

Personal trainer Briggs was arrested in the UK after a five-week manhunt and subsequently extradited to Spain.

Prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of 16 years – 14 years if he is found guilty of killing Ulrich outside his home near Marbella on November 18, 2020, while he was running an errand for his mother. He is also accused of stealing the number plates of a neighbor's Audi, which he allegedly attached to his Mercedes to throw police off the trail.

The lawyers hired by Ulrich's family, who will also prosecute him in the same trial, are demanding a total sentence of 23 years in prison for him.

The fatal stabbing is said to have occurred after the young Spaniard accused Briggs of driving too fast and then braking sharply at a zebra crossing where he was on his way home to pick up washing powder that his mother had asked him to buy.

Tatiana was desperate and found him lying bleeding on the street. A neighbor had alerted her that something had happened to her son. She ran out into the street, where there were police officers and an ambulance.

Lawyers hired by the stabbing victim's family say Briggs returned looking for him after first driving away from the crosswalk, then attacked him with his feet and fists and then stabbed him in the heart.

A pre-trial indictment states: “First, he gave him a professional kick, abusing his physical condition and his knowledge of boxing – a fighting technique he personally trains – to prevent his victim from defending himself.”

The document states that Briggs then struck his victim several times, injuring him so badly that he was unable to defend himself against the “surprise attack.” “He finally opened the knife he had prepared and stabbed him directly in the heart with the precise and accurate blow of someone who knows how to kill,” the document continues.

The prosecutor's separate three-page indictment, released last April after Briggs was charged, states of the crime that led to Ulrich's death: “After a struggle with the victim in which he attempted to end his life, we allege that the defendant kicked and stabbed him in the chest before fleeing.”

“As a result of the brutal aggression, the victim died from injuries sustained from a single stab wound to the chest, which pierced his heart and caused massive external bleeding, according to the autopsy.”

Briggs, 21 at the time of the incident, was identified in Spain at the time of his arrest as a boxer from a wealthy family in Marbella.

He is said to have often boxed at the MGM gym, which has since closed after being renamed the MTK Marbella Gym, but which hosted stars such as Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua and he was closely linked to alleged cartel leader Daniel Kinahan, who is currently hiding out in Dubai.

The murdered teenager's great-aunt, Herminia Martinez, wrote on Facebook after the brutal crime: “Sometimes we feel like God has abandoned us and we wonder why the Lord has taken us to Himself. Or we want to have the person who hurt our son or daughter in front of us and ask them why they did what they did and why they committed such a cruelty.”

“I imagine that when that happens, we also want to die with our son or daughter because the pain must be so great that we can't think of anything else. You can't believe what's happening. We think it's a nightmare.”

“A madman, a stupid man took your life and you are in another dimension with your great-grandparents who loved you so much. Rest in peace.”

In an interview with the local newspaper last year, Ulrich's heartbroken mother recalled the harrowing moment when she saw her son after the attack.

Tatiana, who was born in Nicaragua, told Diario Sur that she initially thought he had been hit by a car: “Nobody would tell me anything. I screamed for an ambulance. Then I saw that he didn't have his glasses on and I knew something was very wrong.”

“The ambulance came, they cut off his clothes and I saw the wound on his side. It makes you lose your mind. Who did this to my son, who was a very nice boy who greeted everyone? Who walks down the street in Spain with a knife? A murderer who crossed his path.”

In addition to a long prison sentence, Briggs also faces five-figure compensation claims.

He was arrested on the outskirts of Leeds, West Yorkshire, in December 2020 after what lawyers for his alleged victim's family described as a “conscious and premeditated” plan to flee Spain and fly to the UK via Portugal.

The British expat was remanded in custody in Spain following his extradition in early 2021, but was released on bail after two years behind bars without ever being tried, despite protests from Ulrich's parents, who wanted to keep him in custody.