June 7, 2022
Christopher Paxton QC and Richard Kelly have secured the murder convictions for both father and son accused of vigilante killing.
Christopher Paxton QC led Richard Kelly for the prosecution in a 9 week trial at Ipswich Crown Court which resulted in the conviction of David King (aged 55) and his son Edward King (aged 19).
The prosecution case was that these two defendants, who lived in Radnor Close on the suburban Moreton Hall Estate in Bury St. Edmunds, left their family home on two occasions in the early hours of the morning of 20th June 2021 to exact serious and vengeful violence upon a car thief that had activated the house’s security cameras. On the second occasion within a few minutes of leaving home they found and fatally stabbed Neil Charles, a local thief well-known to the police, in nearby Winsford Road. Mr. Charles received a fatal 12cm stab wound to his chest caused by a commando style dagger and a slash across his upper knee caused by a 27” ninja sword.
At trial the defendants accepted that they had left home armed with the weapons in question and admitted the wounds were caused by them, but suggested that they had been acting lawfully to detain Mr. Charles and that the fatal wound had been caused accidentally when David King removed the dagger to defend himself. The prosecution presented evidence from the defendants’ telephones which supported the prosecution’s case that they were obsessed with dangerous weapons and had previously demonstrated a vengeful hatred for local thieves and burglars.
Both defendants were unanimously convicted by the jury on 30th May 2022 after a 9 week trial.
The defendants will be sentenced on a date in the future to be fixed by the court.
News stories:
Independent: [Independent]
ITV: [ITV]
BBC: [BBC]
East Anglian Daily Times: [East Anglian Daily Times]