A killer currently serving life for fatally stabbing a man in Thame is to appeal his murder conviction.

Nathan Braim, 21, was found guilty last year of murdering 19-year-old Joshua Harling on July 22, 2020.

Mr Harling, who was living in Headington at the time, was stabbed in a street fight with Braim and Benjamin Eyles.

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He managed to get into his green VW Polo and drove away from the scene but crashed on Chinnor Road. The hatchback ended up on its roof and, despite the efforts of doctors living nearby, he died of his wounds.

Braim was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 19 years after jurors unanimously convicted him of murder, conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm and possession of a weapon.

Now, Braim has asked for permission to take his case before the Court of Appeal.

A single judge at the Royal Courts of Justice has already reviewed the conviction and refused leave for Braim to take the case before a panel of three appeal court justices.

But on February 18, he will renew his application for leave to appeal the murder conviction. If he persuades the three judges at that hearing of his grounds for appeal, the matter will be considered at another hearing later in the year.

Last year, jurors at Oxford Crown Court heard that victim Mr Harling had struck out with a metal bar on the night of the murder. Braim retaliated by stabbing him at least twice, including a fatal stab wound to the chest.

Judge Ian Pringle QC told Braim and co-defendant Benjamin Eyles, who received eight years for manslaughter: "No sentence that I make pass and nothing I can do today will ever compensate for the devastating loss of the actions of you both.”

He added of Braim's blade, used to inflict the fatal wounds: "It was a knife that you habitually carry with you. You stabbed him at least twice. Once to his arm and once to his chest, the fatal blow. With significant force you penetrated his sternum, heart and other organs.

"Within a very short period [Mr Harling] lost control of his vehicle and crashed. His life could not be saved.

"You Nathan Braim knew what you had done. [Eyles] then gave you a lift back home. The knife has never been found, only you know where it was disposed of or concealed.”

In December, Braim received another nine years in jail for taking part in a mugging spree in Berkshire a month before Mr Harling’s murder.