O'Neal Joseph: Valentine's Day killer made plans hours after stabbing Yannick Cupido

But just after midnight on this date last year, this could not have been further from the case as tragedy struck in Caversham.

O’Neal Joseph savagely murdered Yannick Cupido, 24, in the early hours of Valentine’s Day 2021 after stabbing him with a kitchen knife in the chest on Nire Road.

Joseph, 28 and formerly of Amersham Road, Reading, was handed a life sentence for the fatal stabbing of Cupido following a trial in November 2021.

Yannick Cupido was fatally attacked on Valentine's Day, 2021.

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His accomplice, Reece Weatherburn (23, of Nire Road, Caversham), was jailed for three years after he was convicted of two counts of assisting an offender for ‘slowing the police investigation’ by helping the knifeman avoid apprehension.

The fight between Cupido and Joseph occurred after the duo argued over a prank the former played in which he falsely claimed their mutual friend Reece Weatherburn had been arrested.

From this, their argument snowballed and Cupido and Joseph crossed paths on Nire Road, where the former headbutted the latter.

In evidence heard during a three-week trial, Joseph stabbed Cupido in the chest after two minutes of fighting.

Cupido ran off and collapsed on Managua Close before collapsing a minute later.

READ MORE: Knifeman stabbed 'much-loved' man after being made to look 'foolish'

He was taken to hospital but was pronounced dead at 1.24am.

Following the stabbing, Joseph plotted his escape from Reading.

He first returned to his partner's house and told her at the door 'I've just stabbed Yannick'.

He had a large kitchen knife in his hand which had blood dripping from it.

Yannick Cupido was fatally attacked on Valentine's Day, 2021.

She responded 'what the f***' and asked him if Cupido was dead, to which he responded that he did not know.

Joseph got changed and told his partner to get bin bags for his old clothes, which he later disposed of along with the knife.

READ MORE: Killer cries in court after recalling moment he stabbed 24-year-old

After two failed calls to Reece Weatherburn, he managed to reach him and spoke to him for two minutes but fled his partner's address after seeing flashing blue lights.

Joseph ran off and reached the Travellers Rest Pub on the Henley Road in Caversham, where he was using the pub's WiFi outside the premises.

In a voice note conversation with his ex-partner at 2.12am, Joseph told her to get in touch with his family to tell them what had happened the following morning.

He said: “If it doesn’t seem like they’re [the police] on to me, I’ll come see you, it’s Valentine’s Day, aha.”

Joseph met Weatherburn on Cow Lane in Reading at 3.13am and laid low at his flat on Battle Square until 8am.

Before he left, at 6.52am, Joseph became aware of Cupido's death.

Yannick Cupido was fatally attacked on Valentine's Day, 2021.

He sent a message to his ex saying: 'He [Cupido] died, just found out, wtf. I feel sick.'

In these messages, he told her he got rid of his clothing and the knife that killed Cupido.

Joseph and Weatherburn left the latter's flat at 8.20am on February 14 and made their way to the BP garage on Oxford Road, Reading.

They split up and Weatherburn was questioned by police at his mother’s house.

He did not tell them he knew Joseph stabbed Cupido and in a formal statement given later that day, described the slain 24-year-old as his ‘best friend’, and said his death as ‘completely random’.

At 11.27am on February 14, Joseph told Weatherburn he was leaving to go to Leicester.

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He was picked up from Reading by a former girlfriend and she drove him to her house in Bracknell, where he laid low until February 16.

On this day, he went to Tesco in Bracknell. The jury were shown footage of Joseph entering the store.

Here, he purchased a mobile phone, pens, a writing pad and a carrier bag.

Yannick Cupido was fatally attacked on Valentine's Day, 2021.

He put a new sim card into his mobile phone using the items purchased from the Bracknell store.

Later, he returned to Reading and attended Loddon Valley Police Station with a solicitor where he gave a prepared statement about his involvement in the incident.

Joseph was charged with murder on Wednesday, February 17, 2021.

He and Weatherburn stood trial at Reading Crown Court in October 2021 and were convicted of murder and assisting an offender respectively after more than seven hours of jury deliberations.

Giving evidence at the trial, Joseph said he thought he had stabbed Cupido on his jacket or in his arm, but when he returned home he saw ‘a lot of blood’ on the knife.

This made him think he had hurt Cupido ‘really badly’.

READ MORE: Man made Valentine's Day plans hours of fatal stabbing

He admitted he should have called the police instead of throwing his clothes and the knife away, but told the court he did not know what to do and that he ‘feared the worst.’

Joseph denied intending to seriously harm Cupido and confessed he had regrets and guilt about taking a knife with him to the site.

He said: “At the time I was scared. I didn’t think it would cause serious damage.”

However, the jury saw through his self-defence argument and convicted him of murder.

At his sentencing on November 24, 2021, Joseph was handed a life sentence to serve a minimum of 24 years in prison.

Reece Weatherburn was sentenced to three years imprisonment for two counts of assisting an offender and one count of a breach of order.