Parents in tribute to stabbed Potter actor

Published on Saturday 24 May 2008 20:17

THE parents of an 18-year-old actor fatally stabbed just after finishing work on the new Harry Potter film last night paid tribute to the son they "adored."

Sally and Colin Knox, from Sidcup, Kent, said the teenager, who was killed in a fight outside a bar, was "the life and soul of the party".

In a statement they said: "Rob was kind and thoughtful and would always help out others; he would always spend his last penny on other people instead of himself.

"The life and soul of the party, he was very outgoing, loved sports, and would always strike up a conversation with people. He was respectful to others and adored by all his family and friends. He was an asset to the family."

Rob, who plays Ravenclaw student Marcus Belby in the forthcoming Harry Potter film Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, died outside the town's Metro Bar.

He was killed just a few miles from where Jimmy Mizen, 16, was killed in Lee, south-east London, two weeks ago.

Jimmy's father also runs a shoe repair shop on Sidcup High Street and both Jimmy Mizen and Rob Knox played for Sidcup Rugby Club around three years ago. President Phil West said: "We're still mourning for Jimmy and now we've got a second victim. It's absolutely devastating."

A man came to the bar armed with two knives and was seen waving one of them around through the window. A scuffle broke out outside just after midnight, and four teenagers as well as Rob were injured.

He and his brother Jamie were reportedly trying to protect each other during the fight.

Their friends Tom Hopkins, 18, and Tarik Ozress, 17, managed to pin the armed man down, wrestling with him for several minutes before police arrived.

Tom, who plays football for Southend United's youth team, was stabbed in the head during the struggle.

He said: "Rob was just trying to help out. He was like that. I grabbed the knife, I didn't know at the time that he had another knife. It was just chaos."

Rob was taken to Queen Elizabeth Hospital and was pronounced dead at around 1am. During the fight, Nick Jones, 19, was also stabbed in the hand and Charlie Grimley, 17, was stabbed in the cheek and arm. A 21-year-old man was stabbed in the neck and remains in hospital.

Another 21-year-old man was treated for facial injuries and arrested on suspicion of murder following his discharge from hospital.

Scores of Knox's friends gathered outside the Metro Bar yesterday to lay floral tributes. His cousin, Vicky May, 16, said that he was more like her big brother.

She said: "You never think it will happen to you. Rob wasn't a thug, it wasn't gang-related. Everyone loved him. He was more like a brother, he would always look out for me. He was friends with so many people."

A friend, Liberty Butcher, said: "He would never start an argument. He would have been the one to stick up for someone. He had so much going for him."

A Warner Bros spokeswoman expressed the company's sympathy, saying: "We are deeply saddened and shocked by this news."

Rob was formerly a pupil at Beths Grammar School, and is believed to have studied drama at the D& B School of Performing Arts in Bromley, Kent.

Rob had spoken to the Sun newspaper in 2004 about how he had coped with bullying at a previous school.

He told the paper that he had been picked on, which had resulted in him moving to Beths. He said that for three years he had been the victim of a bullying campaign. "I am totally different now. I used to be so unconfident because of my weight and the bullying. But nothing gets to me now."