I hope Rob's killer suffers

THE mother of murdered Harry Potter star Rob Knox blasted her son’s killer last night — saying: “I hope he suffers in jail.”

Sally Knox, 51, spoke out after an Old Bailey jury convicted Karl Bishop, 22, of murder.

Today, Bishop was sentenced to life and told he would be behind bars for at least 20 years.

Bishop, who smirked in the dock as the sentence was passed, was given three further concurrent life sentences for wounding Rob’s friends.

Sally said: “I despise him. He’s rotten to the core. I hope he suffers the most miserable life ever for what he’s done.”

Rob,18, was stabbed to death two days after he finished filming with Daniel Radcliffe for his role as Marcus Belby in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Mum Sally told of her relief as the jury returned its verdict. She said: “I felt an instant elation. It felt like freedom, release.

“A chapter has closed. But I will never stop missing and loving Rob.”

Bishop had two kitchen knives when Rob tried to stop him attacking his younger brother Jamie, 16, and their pals outside a bar in Sidcup, South London, last May.

The four-week trial heard drunken Bishop had fought with Rob and his friends a week earlier.

Bishop stormed off, warning: “I’m coming back next week and someone’s going to die.”

The killer returned to the bar a week later and clashed again with Rob’s pals before his own friends dragged him off and drove him home to calm down.
Paralysed

Instead Bishop armed himself with two knives and returned to the bar seething with anger. Rob went outside to confront him after hearing Jamie had been threatened.

The young actor, who had just won a part in another Harry Potter film, was stabbed five times in the fight that followed. Pal Dean Saunders, 22, was temporarily paralysed after being stabbed in the neck.

Callous Bishop told the court he felt no remorse for stabbing Rob. He denied murder, claiming he acted in self-defence.

He was also convicted of wounding Rob’s pals Dean Saunders, 23, Andrew Dormer, 17, and Nicky Jones, 20.

At the time of the murder Bishop was wanted for burglary and a knifepoint robbery. But despite his record of violence, police had not got around to arresting him.

Sally said: “If he had been arrested it could have been different.”