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Joss Stone murder plotters found guilty

By | Published on Thursday 4 April 2013

Joss Stone

Two men have been found guilty of plotting to rob and murder singer Joss Stone at her Devon home in June 2011. Kevin Liverpool was sentenced to a minimum of ten years and eight months in prison for leading the plan, while his accomplice Junior Bradshaw will be sentenced at a later date.

As previously reported, the two men travelled to Devon from the Manchester home they shared with the intention of 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.

Inside their car officers found balaclavas, a knife and Samurai sword, as well as notes in Liverpool’s handwriting detailing the plan. The court heard that the motivation for the crime was Stone’s links to the royal family, as well as her reported £10 million fortune. When asked about her royal connections in court, Stone said that she had just “sung for them a couple of times” at charity events.

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 Liverpool chose not to give evidence and was not assessed by mental health professionals. Though that didn’t stop Judge Francis Gilbert QC somewhat inappropriately declaring, while handing down Liverpool’s sentence: “It was your scheme. This may have been the crazy scheme of a crazy person… but it was a very real plan”.

Both men were found guilty of conspiracy to murder, conspiracy to commit assault causing grievous bodily harm, and conspiracy to rob.



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