The jury at Belfast Crown Court announced a majority guilty verdict of 10 to two against 24-year-old Gavin Maguire.

Female relatives of both Maguire and his victim, 21-year- old Brendan McKay, also wept in the public gallery of the court.

Their reactions came after trial judge Mr Justice Weatherup had warned those in the public gallery that, although he understood there would be some who agreed with the verdict and others who disagreed, "there are to be no demonstrations or celebrations and nothing takes place that is incompatible with the fact that we have been considering the circumstances relating to the death of a young man".

The jury of six men and six women deliberated for close to five-and-a-half hours over two days after a 10-day trial.

They heard that, on February 5 last year, Maguire and his cousin had gone back to the flat he shared at Oak Villa on west Belfast's Springfield Road when they had a fallout.

Lifting a four-inch, bladed, lock knife from a table, Maguire stabbed Mr McKay in the chest, piercing a main pumping chamber of his heart and puncturing his left lung.

Despite the killer's attempts at resuscitation and emergency surgery, Mr McKay tragically died from his injuries.

Giving evidence to the court on his own behalf Maguire, from Gransha Green in Ballymurphy, was emotional and often in tears as he described how he was " disgusted" at himself for what he had done.

He claimed: "I'm not a murderer. Yes, I killed my cousin but I did not intend to kill him - I'm not a murderer."

But yesterday Mr Justice Weatherup told him that, as a convicted murderer, " there is only one sentence that can be imposed... it's a sentence of life imprisonment".

The judge adjourned setting the minimum sentence Maguire must serve pending reports by the probation service.