A father and son have been found guilty of murdering an alleged thief in the murder of a security guard.
David King and his 19-year-old son Edward King murdered Neil Charles after seeing him test the car door and handlebars at Bury St Edmunds in June last year.
Charles was stabbed on June 20 and died two days later in hospital. A pathologist found that he had a 12 cm stab in the chest.
A jury was told that officers had found David King on Winsford Road, a short distance from his home, and Charles further down the road. They said the victim was walking away from the house of the Kings when he was killed. David King had a double-edged dagger-like knife, and his son had a 27-inch ninja sword.
David called police at 3:5 a.m., saying a man had been trying to steal from his car at the Moreton Hall estate in Suffolk City.
The 55-year-old man told callers that he had tried to stop Charles, who had fled, and admitted that he had a knife in his hand and had injured the thief before fleeing. He told a jury that Charles had stumbled upon his knife. Both men denied intentionally killing Charles.
However, the Ipswich Crown Court learned that they had come out with weapons to pursue Charles in an act of surveillance and had not called police to investigate after seeing a thief on CCTV.
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The father’s knife was used to kill Charles, and Edward’s sword caused a horizontal wound above the 47-year-old’s left knee. It was also used to cut the tire of Charles’ bicycle.
David King was arrested at the scene and his son Edward later that day.
The text messages read during the trial showed that they had a “fascination” for guns and discussed the desire to deal with any alleged criminal after a series of local robberies.
The Kings were found guilty of murder by a unanimous verdict on Monday. They have been remanded in custody and will be sentenced later.