Courtney Valentine-Brown murder: Four killers jailed

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-51300916

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Two men have been jailed for life for the murder of a tenant who was stabbed in the leg and left to die.

Courtney Valentine-Brown, 36, was killed at a flat in Roots Hall Drive, Southend, during an attempt to evict him because of a debt on 21 February.

At Basildon Crown Court, Ian Slater, 50, and Alex Stephens, 36, were told they must serve at least 26 years.

Landlady Kelly King, 31, and Stuart Pearson, 44, were each jailed for nine years for his manslaughter.

King and Pearson, both from Westcliff, were cleared of murder but found guilty of the lesser charge on Tuesday.

The trial heard King had asked her partner Slater, of Leigh-on-Sea, to help evict Mr Valentine-Brown, a known drug dealer, from her property. Slater recruited the other two men.

Things turned violent during the eviction attempt and Stephens, from Westcliff, stabbed Mr Valentine-Brown in the leg. He suffered massive blood loss and died.

Speaking after the convictions, Det Ch Insp Daniel Stoten said it was clear the four had gone to the flat with violence in mind.

He said: "For four people to go to an address where the victim was going to leave anyway and take weapons and assault him is absolute cowardice, and tragically Courtney lost his life."

In a witness impact statement read to the court, Mr Valentine-Brown's mother Veronica Merson said: "The trauma that has been caused has impacted in a way that some days I have not even been able to eat, speak or sleep.

"Since the death of my son Courtney everything has stopped."