The killer of John 'King' Abbey boasted to friends how he was going to harm the boxer.

Friends of Charles Acquaah revealed how, on a trip to Ghana, he bragged about planning to kill John ‘King’ Abbey months before the murder.

King’s brother Samuel Abbey, 33, told the Croydon Guardian how he begged Acquaah not to hurt the boxer.

On a trip to Ghana, Charles Acquaah, an old business associate and family friend, told Samuel Abbey and friends he was going to murder King when he went back to the UK.

An emotional Samuel Abbey, 33 said: “The last time he [Acquaah] was here he was telling people he was going to kill my brother when he returned to England.

"I heard this so I went to speak to him to ask him why and tell him not to.

“I told him I would speak to my brother and sort it out but he didn’t listen.

“I asked him not to hurt my brother, his friend. God knows why he stabbed him.

“The family have been left devastated by King’s death. He was the sole bread winner for the family and now we do not know what to do.

“My father looked upon him for everything. He was sending us money to keep us away from poverty.

“Every time he called my father was so happy, now he is always crying, crying, crying.

“My father loved him [King] a lot. Our mother died 15 years ago and so he thinks a lot about my brother now he is dead too.”

“We were so surprised when it happened, he [Acquaah] knows everyone. Everybody is surprised by what happened, we were born and bred in the same area.”

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