David West jailed for killing bullying tycoon father

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/nov/09/david-west-jailed-for-killing-bullying-tycoon-father

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The heir to a multimillion-pound nightclub empire has been jailed for 13-and-a-half years for stabbing his father to death after years of being treated as his “whipping boy”.

David West junior, 45, worked for the bullying and overbearing David West senior from the age of 14 and played a pivotal role in the family business’s success.

On 12 December last year, however, he stabbed the 70-year-old alcoholic to death as he was slumped drunk at the bottom of the stairs at his home in Piccadilly, central London.

An Old Bailey jury failed to reach a verdict on a murder charge earlier this year, but on Monday West pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of loss of control.

Passing sentence, the recorder of London, Nicholas Hilliard QC, said: “It was clear that you suffered verbal abuse and verbal aggression from your father for many years.”

Staff had described him as his father’s whipping boy, and his treatment amounted to psychological bullying, Hilliard said.

The judge, however, said that at the time of his death, West senior had been particularly vulnerable and the evidence against the defendant was overwhelming.

Earlier in mitigation, Orlando Pownall QC said: “There was a toxic relationship between father and son. Although in latter years David West senior was frail he had an acerbic tongue that could reduce grown men to tears.”

West had been treated with “severe belittlement and contempt” by his father for 30 years, he said.

The victim’s family might be expected to make statements on the impact of the killing, but in this case their grief was more for the defendant than the deceased, he added.

Pownall told the court that West was truly sorry for what he had done. “It was a momentary aberration born of a life experience over many years,” he said.

The court was told that the victim’s family and West senior’s business partners had been against a trial from the start, but the crown had decided it was right to bring the evidence before a jury.

The self-styled “Lord David West of Hollesley” made his fortune from the “booze cruise” trade in Belgium and France in the 1980s before moving to the West End, where he bought up lap-dancing clubs, restaurants, nightclubs and bars, including Puss in Boots and Abracadabra.

Despite his playboy image, behind the scenes, West senior had a short temper and lived by a code of “my money, my rules”. Staff nicknamed him “Papa Bear” for his violent temper, and his son bore the brunt of the verbal abuse.

West, the oldest of three children, had tried to break away from his father’s influence, but returned to help as the tycoon’s health and business were failing.

On the day of the killing, he quit his £500-a-week job during a blazing row at the Abracadabra bar and restaurant in Piccadilly.

The defendant, who lived in a flat his father provided above the bar, armed himself with a kitchen knife, went next door to the victim’s house and stabbed him in the neck and chest.

Afterwards, he dialled 999 and told police: “I would like to admit to a murder. I’ve just killed my father.”

Giving evidence, West accepted the killing, but said he could not remember doing it or telling police afterwards that he finally “had the guts to stand up to him” and that he was glad he was dead.

He became tearful as he told jurors that his father saw him as a failure, and that he was driven to stab him because of his constant bullying and belittlement.