Teenager who murdered 17-year-old on dancefloor at party named

Yura Varybus

A teenage killer who fatally stabbed another boy on a crowded dancefloor was named for the first time on Wednesday after the order protecting his identity was lifted.

Yura Varybrus,the son of Ukrainian parents,killed 17-year-old Charlie Cosser after being asked to leave an end-of-term party in the grounds of a £1.5 million country farmhouse in West Sussex.

He was jailed for life,with a minimum term of 16 years,at Brighton Crown Court on Wednesday.

Varybrus,17,had never met Cosser before the party at Balmohano Farmhouse,near Warnham,last summer.

He can be named for the first time after applications from reporters were allowed by Her Honour Judge Christine Henson KC.

Charlie Cosser was stabbed at a party near Warnham,West Sussex,last year

Credit: Family handout/Sussex Police

Varybrus was only 16 when he first pleaded guilty to murder at Lewes Crown Court on July 28 last year,and was due to be sentenced last September. His identity was protected by his age.

The teenager was described as a “big lad” by people who saw him at the party. He had been drinking heavily throughout the night and claimed he could not remember anything about the killing.

‘We are all guilty’

The trial jury was never told that Varybrus had already pleaded guilty when the charge of murder was put to him last July,days after Cosser had died. At another hearing in November,his guilty plea was vacated,allowing him to be tried for murder.

Martin Cosser,the victim’s father,said of Varybrus: “He’s well known,and I know people are scared of him. The DCI told me that when he told him Charlie had died he didn’t even flinch.

“He’s known to carry a knife and so is his friend,who I think gave the knife to him.”

Ihor Varybrus,the killer’s father,lives in West Sussex while his mother lives with her new partner in Surrey. The teenager exchanged a raised fist salute with his father as he was taken down from the dock at Lewes.

Speaking after the hearing,his father said: “It’s not just him,we are all guilty. He is a child,we are all responsible,and should have been making sure they were not drinking. I never saw him drinking before.

“I haven’t been able to see him for five days and he is only 16,he is a child. We need him to know we love him and we will stay with him all his life.”