"Devastated” family of teenager stabbed to death by Portsmouth man will "never get over" horrific death  

Thomas Betteridge, 18, of Southsea, was found guilty of the manslaughter of Cameron Hamilton, 18, and possessing a bladed article following a trial at Bournemouth Crown Court. Jurors returned a not guilty verdict on the murder charge. Betteridge will return to court to be sentenced on Friday 5 April.

The fatal incident happened at around 1.25am on Saturday 5 August 2023 when officers in Bournemouth were made aware of an altercation taking place in the area of The Square. It was subsequently reported that a man had sustained a suspected stab wound.

Despite the efforts of officers – who were on the scene within seconds of the fatal stabbing - and paramedics who subsequently attended, Cameron was pronounced dead at the scene.

Following a detailed investigation by detectives from Dorset Police’s Major Crime Investigation Team (MCIT), Betteridge was charged and another 18-year-old man, Lennie Hansen of Waterlooville, was also charged with assisting an offender and possessing a bladed article.

Hansen was found not guilty of assisting an offender but had previously admitted a charge of possessing a bladed article, which related to him bringing the knife that Betteridge used in the fatal stabbing. He will be sentenced alongside Betteridge on Friday 5 April.

Now the family of Mr Hamilton have released a statement, which read: “We as a family still remain and always will be, truly devastated by the loss of our beautiful Cam, we will never get over his life being so horribly taken from him. Our lives are changed forever.

“Cam was loved by all that had the pleasure of knowing him. He was a loving and caring, intelligent, polite young man with his whole life ahead of him. He is missed so much by us all.

“We thank all the people that have been there for us, helped and supported us through the most horrific time of our lives, we will never forget. We would like to publicly thank the police officers first on the scene who tried to save Cam's life and the ambulance crew who took over, we thank you so much for being with him.

“The investigation team and Crown Prosecution Service for their hard work from start to finish and throughout the trial. Thank you for the respect, professionalism and empathy you have all shown to Cam and our family.

“The family liaison officers who have been with us from day one, you have been amazing.

And finally, thank you to our barrister John Price KC, we could not have asked for anyone better to represent Cam in court.”