Legal

Joss Stone murder plotter sentenced to eighteen years in prison

By | Published on Wednesday 10 July 2013

Joss Stone

One of the two men convicted earlier this year of plotting to kill Joss Stone at her Devon home in 2011, Junior Bradshaw, has been sentenced to eighteen years in prison. His accomplice, Kevin Liverpool, was previously sentenced to life for leading the plan, with a minimum prison term of ten years and eight months. Bradshaw will be eligible for parole after serving six years and eleven months.

As previously reported, Bradshaw and Liverpool travelled to Devon from the Manchester home they shared with the intention of stealing £1 million they believed Stone kept in a safe, then kidnapping the singer, beheading her and dumping her body in a river. The plan was thwarted when locals spotted the two men acting suspiciously as they attempted to find her home and reported them to the police.

When testifying during the trial, Bradshaw said that he hadn’t heard of the singer prior to his arrest and thought that he and Liverpool were simply going on a day trip, though he could not remember where they were going. Called as an expert witness, consultant psychiatrist Dr Michael Alcock said that Bradshaw has diagnoses of learning disability and hebephrenic (disorganised) schizophrenia. Bradshaw’s mental health was seemingly one of the factors behind the decision to delay his sentencing.

Meanwhile Bradshaw’s lawyer, Martin Meeke, argued that his “fundamental intellectual impairment” caused him to be easily led and should be taken into account in his sentencing. However, Judge Francis Gilbert said that he believed Bradshaw had been fully aware of the plot, telling him: “Liverpool was the instigator and you were the foot soldier, you were a party to what he intended to do”.



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