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Joss Stone plotters convicted of conspiracy to murder Joss Stone plotters convicted of conspiracy to murder
(about 7 hours later)
Two men have been convicted of hatching a plot to rob and kill the pop star Joss Stone. One man has been jailed for life and another awaits sentence after being convicted of conspiring to rob and kill the singer Joss Stone in a plot that, at times, bordered on a sinister farce.
Kevin Liverpool was jailed for life with a minimum term of 10 years and eight months after being found guilty of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to rob after a three-week trial at Exeter crown court. The sentencing of Junior Bradshaw, who was convicted of the same charges, was adjourned. Kevin Liverpool, 35, and Junior Bradshaw, 32, planned to decapitate the pop star and dump her body, but were stopped by police within a few miles of her rural Devon home after a series of blunders aroused suspicions. A jury took four hours on Wednesday to convict the two of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to rob after a three-week trial at Exeter crown court.
Bradshaw, 32, and Liverpool, 35, harboured deep hatred for the soul singer. Sentencing Liverpool to a minimum 10 years and eight months before being eligible for parole, Judge Francis Gilbert QC told him: "You intended to rob her and kill her and dump her body in the river, according to your words, and then leave the country with your accomplice Junior Bradshaw." Sentencing on Bradshaw was adjourned to a later date.
In a statement after the verdicts, Stone said: "I'd like to thank everyone for all their support and kind wishes. The trial heard the would-be killers crashed as they drove to the scene of their planned crime and later got lost and had to ask for directions. They made no real attempt to hide an arsenal of weapons packed in their battered old Fiat Punto and helped detectives enormously by detailing their scheme to kill the singer – real name Jocelyn Stoker – in a bundle of notes culminating in one saying: "Once Jocelyn's dead … find a river to dump her."
"I am relieved the trial is now over and that these men are no longer in a position to cause harm to anyone." On the day of their capture, Stone was at home relaxing. She had recently launched her own label, Stone'd Records, and had finished her fifth album LP1 in Nashville.
The defendants, both from Longsight, in Manchester, denied charges of conspiracy to murder, alternative charges of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm and conspiracy to rob. The unemployed assailants – childhood friends who shared a one-bedroom flat in the Longsight area of Manchester – left home at 2am on 13 June 2011 in their newly purchased car and headed for the Cullompton area of Devon.
The pair set off from their home in Manchester with a samurai sword, knives, bags and gloves crammed into their Fiat Punto, bound for Stone's address in Devon. They were armed with a samurai sword, hammers, a metal spike and knife and equipped with balaclavas, gloves, body bags, gaffer tape and a roll of plastic bags. They also had maps showing the area where the singer lived, including one marked: "Here Joss Stone."
However, their plot immediately began to unravel. They were spoken to by police having been involved in a crash on the journey to the West Country. Stopping at a service station on the M5 in Gloucestershire at dawn, they filled up with petrol and drove off without paying. As they left the service station Bradshaw crashed into metal railings and a mechanical digger. The front of the vehicle was badly damaged and Gloucestershire police attended. Officers said they would report the pair for motoring offences but did not believe the vehicle could be moved – and did not know they had previously left the service station without paying – so departed without searching the car.
Bradshaw and Liverpool also asked a postman for directions to Stone's home in Ashill using a picture of the pop star in an attempt to track her down. The plot could have stopped there. But Liverpool and Bradshaw were nothing if not persistent. They got the car back on the road and arrived in Devon two hours later. However the lanes around Stone's home are narrow, complicated and confusing, and they got lost. In desperation they showed a postman a picture of Stone asking him where she lived, but he told them he did not know.
Notes found in the defendants' possession showed they intended to decapitate the pop star before dumping her body in a river, the prosecution told jurors. Later, three residents seeing them in their car appearing "agitated and behaving abnormally" all called police. A patrol car stopped the Fiat. The weapons and equipment were found and the pair were arrested for possessing offensive weapons and going equipped. As police searched the car more carefully – and later the men's flat in Manchester – they realised that something bigger than a robbery had been in the offing.
Bradshaw and Liverpool were arrested on the morning of 13 June 2011 a few miles from Stone's home when concerned local residents – spotting their crash-damaged car – called police. At the flat were a crossbow, a BB gun, and notes, one of which read: "Joscelyn [sic] Stoker … RIP for ever" and: "I don't kill just for dollars, only for good cause or reason." One mentioned decapitation and another read: "Once Jocelyn's dead … find a river to dump her." They also described her as a "she-devil" and took umbrage at her links to the monarchy (Stone has sung for the royals and was invited to Prince William's wedding). "Invited to Will's wedding by Queen. Where's the sense in that?" mused one note.
Police officers discovered Bradshaw did not have a driving licence and arrested him. When she gave evidence, Stone told the jury she had been enjoying a "really nice" day until police banged on her door and told her they believed Liverpool and Bradshaw had been planning to rob her. It got worse when they returned later and told her that, actually, the pair had been planning to kill her.
They searched the Punto and found a stash of weapons, including a black-handled samurai sword, three knives, a section of garden hosepipe, two £1 hammers, black gloves and balaclavas and a further holdall containing a metal spike, black bags and black tape. There were also print-outs of AA routefinder maps from Manchester to Devon. The two refused to reveal their motivation. They did not appear to be fixated on Stone, and they did not even have copies of her CDs. Detectives have not ruled out others may have been involved.
Liverpool was branded a fantasist by his own lawyer. Notes he wrote found in the car and his flat in Manchester included references to robbing, killing and beheading the singer and dumping her body in a river. Other documents also "appear to express disapproval of the royal family". Liverpool has previous convictions for assault and having bladed articles or knives in public places. In 2010 he was given a community sentence with a mental health requirement. Bradshaw has an IQ level often associated with a learning disability and has been diagnosed with schizophrenia. He has been jailed 11 times for persistently breaching a court order after being convicted of exposing himself on the steps of Leeds town hall in 2006. After he was found sleeping rough in London and appearing at the Old Bailey, he was given a hospital order, and cared for in a mental health unit in Manchester between June 2009 and April 2010. On his discharge he went to stay with Liverpool, and stopped taking his medication.
One note added: "The Queen – she-devil. But she likes Joss Stone. Invited to Will's wedding by Queen. Where's the sense in that?" By January 2011, police believe, the conspiracy plot was hatched. The pair had no computer at the flat. Instead Liverpool used a computer at his local library to research various artists, from Girls Aloud to Beyoncé, Dizzee Rascal and Eminem, before they fixed on Stone.
A search of the one-bedroom flat Bradshaw and Liverpool shared also recovered a self-cocking crossbow and a BB gun. Police also found Liverpool's rambling handwritten diaries, which talked of the need to buy a semi-automatic gun, a silencer, infra-red sights and a "ninja" sword. Texts to contacts in Manchester found by the police showed Liverpool had tried to source semi-automatic guns, silencer and night-vision kit. Bradshaw's fingerprints were not found on any of the weapons nor could any text messages or notes relating to the plot be attributed to him directly. He told the jury he had not even heard of Joss Stone before he was arrested and was just on a "day out".
He called Stone "princess" and other entries referred to "Jocelyn RIP – try to get info. Rob and kill." Sentencing Liverpool the judge said it was clear he had been planning to rob someone of what he "hoped would be in excess of £1m". He had chosen Stone as a "random target" because he thought she was wealthy and assumed "she was a friend of the royal family" and would be able to give them that sort of amount.
Another said: "Jocelyn – devil. She devil in flesh. The Queen. She devil/her system take the p … Destroy the Queen's system." He said Liverpool had recruited Bradshaw into the scheme. "It may have been … 'a crazy scheme from a crazy person and must be likely to fail' but when you decided to travel from Manchester to Devon you intended to carry it out," he said. He was considering a hybrid sentence for Bradshaw, meaning he would receive a custodial sentence but would most likely serve it in a secure psychiatric unit.
The prosecutor Simon Morgan told the court: "This case is about a decision by a group of individuals, of which these defendants are two, to rob and kill Joss Stone. Stone lived among the community where she ran an "open house" to which neighbours were encouraged to pop in. She told the court she did not have a proper lock on her door or set her alarm. "But I do now," she added.
"In interview, the defendants, in essence, declined to comment. The items in their possession, the trips to the area, the fact that the intended victim was at home, the notes and maps all point to a determined effort on the part of the defendants to carry out the plan they had hatched some time before. In a statement after the verdicts, she said: "I am relieved the trial is now over and that these men are no longer in a position to cause harm to anyone".
"The evidence established that they intended to rob and kill their target using the equipment they had with them."
Giving evidence to jurors, the soul star admitted there was lax security at her home but said she only learned of the plot against her from police.
Stone, who was referred to by her real name, Jocelyn Stoker, said: "I've lived in Devon for a long time and nobody really shuts their door.
"I had an alarm but I did not really turn it on very much. I didn't really have a lock on my door … But I do now."
The consultant psychiatrist Dr Michael Alcock said Bradshaw suffered from disorganised schizophrenia and had such a poor concept of time that he thinks the alleged murder plot only happened two or three months ago. Bradshaw has spent time detained under the Mental Health Act in psychiatric units.