LIVE: Musician who stabbed student eight times with 'mafia stiletto' knife to be sentenced - latest updates

A musician who stabbed a student eight times as he walked home from a Halloween party will be sentenced later today. Shiloh Pottinger, 20, repeatedly knifed Luke O'Connor, a 19-year-old Manchester Metropolitan University student, with a 13-inch 'mafia stiletto' knife.

He reacted 'violently and unpredictably' to a joke made about his skateboard by Luke's friend. Luke, who was described as a 'gentle giant' by his family, was killed in Fallowfield during a horrifying incident on Wilmslow Road in October last year.

Pottinger - a music producer and student at BIMM university - was just 19 at the time. A jury found Pottinger not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter following a three week trial.

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Judge Nicholas Dean KC previously said that Pottinger faces a 'lengthy sentence'. The sentencing hearing at Manchester Crown Court is listed to start at 11.15am.

Follow our live blog below for all the latest updates from court.

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Mr O'Connor's mother has hit out at Pottinger, claiming he was 'blowing kisses' to his family during the trial.

"What I would do to see my son and blow kisses," she says.

Addressing the defendant, she says: "This person has shown no remorse and has not taken any responsibility for his actions.

"I refuse for your name to pass my lips because you don't deserve it.

"You took his last breath.

"You tore our hearts out and shattered our lives."

Now Mr O'Connor's mother has come to the witness box to tell the court about her son, reading a statement.

Fighting back tears, she says her family have been on the 'worst rollercoaster you could imagine'.

She says: "Luke was not