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A devastated mum has told how her murdered son was not a ‘racist’ after his killer claimed that his victim had racially insulted him.

Bovic Mupolo, aged 21, of Fleury Rise, Gleadless, Sheffield, was found guilty at Sheffield Crown Court on November 24 of murdering 26-year-old Macaulay Byrne after a two-week trial heard how they had been involved in an alleged ‘fight’ outside the Gypsy Queen pub, at Beighton, Sheffield, just before 10pm, on Boxing Day, 2021.

John Harrison KC, prosecuting, said that Mupolo’s 25-year-old friend Layton Morris had also allegedly been involved in another brawl with others during the incident.

Mupolo had claimed the ‘fight’ with Mr Byrne started after he had heard a group say some racial remarks and that someone had said under their breath, ‘what are these black b******s doing here?’.

Pictured is murder victim Macaulay Byrne, also known as Coley, who died aged 26 after he was stabbed to death outside the Gypsy Queen pub, on Drake House Lane, in Beighton, Sheffield.

He also claimed he had told Mr Byrne he did not have any issues before he alleged Mr Byrne had said, ‘get out of my face, n****r before I stab you’.

But following Mupolo’s conviction for murder, Mr Byrne’s mother Michelle told The Star: “The worst trauma of all is having my son branded a racist and he was not a racist. He has never been a racist and half his friends are black. For them to pull that out of the bag is out of order. His niece and nephew are black and it is wrong.”

Mupolo told the court he had been born in Zambia and came to the UK in 2007 and he settled in Hull before coming to Sheffield in 2015, where he studied at Meadowhead High School before working in a restaurant and as a kitchen porter.

John Harrison KC, prosecuting, previously told the court Mupolo and Mr Byrne were involved in a fight that had spilled outside to the pub steps and into the car park during which Mupolo stabbed Mr Byrne multiple times.

Pictured is Bovic Mupolo, aged 21, of Fleury Rise, at Gleadless, Sheffield, who has been found guilty by a trial jury at Sheffield Crown Court of the murder of Macaulay Byrne who was stabbed outside The Gypsy Queen pub, at Beighton, Sheffield.

Assistant pub manager Dawn Blake, who called 999, stated Mr Byrne returned to the pub where he was seen to be bleeding profusely behind the bar.

Mr Harrison said Mupolo and Mr Morris took a taxi to Swinton and changed clothes at Mr Morris’ address before going to the Mason’s Arms pub, in Wickersley, Rotherham, and to the Crystal Bar and the Viper Rooms, in Sheffield, as Mr Byrne was dying.

Mr Byrne who suffered four stab wounds was taken to hospital but he died at 11.15pm after two of his wounds proved fatal.

Mupolo claimed that he had not stabbed Macaulay Byrne and he had been trying to defend himself but the jury convicted him of murder.

Layton Morris, of Sidney Street, Swinton, near Mexborough, Rotherham, was found not guilty of assisting an offender after he had been accused of helping Mupolo escape and get a change of clothes.

Mr Morris had stated some people had shouted racist threats so they had left the pub and he had not been not aware of a stabbing.

Mupolo is due to be sentenced tomorrow, Friday, November 25, at Sheffield Crown Court.

Mr Byrne’s mum Michelle told The Star how deeply she misses her son and his death has been devastating.

She added: “I cannot put it into words how I feel. He got on with everybody and he had more friends than I will ever have.”

Gypsy Queen murder: Devastated Sheffield mum says her son was not a 'racist' after killer slurred his name