Man charged with murder of 15-year-old with martial arts weapon at Hallowe'en party

Ricky Butler, a local student from the Roffey area of Horsham, was assaulted outside a flat in Gorringes Brook in the early hours of Saturday morning and later died in hospital.

A 16-year-old boy also received head injuries but needed only stitches.

The suspected weapon is a set of nunchuks, or two short sticks of wood, metal or fibreglass connected by a chain or rope.

Unemployed Richard McGarvey Martin, 18, was charged with one count of murder and one count of causing actual bodily harm by West Sussex police on Sunday night.

McGarvey Martin will appear before magistrates in Crawley on Monday morning.

Ricky's mother Sarah, 49, was too devastated to comment last night at their semi-detached home in Horsham, a short distance from the murder scene.

But family friend Teresa Richards described the teenager, the youngest of four brothers, as "a lovely boy who wouldn't hurt a fly".

"He was a fun-loving lad, very polite. He didn't deserve what happened to him. We are all saddened by it," said Miss Richards, 29.

"He had never, ever done anything wrong to anybody. He just lived life to the full every day.

"I spoke to Sarah this morning. She said she couldn't cry any more. She said there's no more tears to cry."

Miss Richards said Ricky had been at his 20-year-old brother Steven's fancy dress "pimps and whores" party when he was attacked.

Josephine Harper, 26, who lives next door to Steven, said up to 80 guests arrived at the party on Saturday.

"There was a really loud party, lots of noise and lots of shouting," she said.

"You could hear beer bottles smashing in the car park. We didn't see anything but in the early hours we heard a couple of people screaming.

"This is such a quiet bit of Horsham. Nothing ever happens except for their parties."

The incident apparently happened outside the flat, which is in an apartment block on the outskirts of the affluent commuter town.

Sussex Police were yesterday distributing letters to residents, asking them to check their gardens for the suspected murder weapon.

And forensic officers were carrying out searches of the area around the apartment block.

Police confirmed that there was a "verbal altercation" outside the flat.

Detective Chief Inspector Adam Hibbert said: "This was a very serious assault involving persons who had been attending a party."

Nunchucks, or nunchaku, are believed to have been invented on the Japanese island of Okinawa before being adopted in China.

They became popular in the West in the 1970s after martial artist Bruce Lee used them in his movies.

They are banned in Germany, Belgium and Spain, but not in Britain. It is, however, illegal to carry them in the UK except for transporting them to and from martial arts training.