Carl Dyche murder: Three jailed for beating man to death

Carl Dyche, 51, died three days after the attack, after suffering a stroke and blood clot to the brain

Three men who beat a man to death in front of his wife and stepson in his own back garden have been jailed.

Carl Dyche, 51, was seriously injured in the "brutal" assault at his property in Kington, Herefordshire, in December 2021.

He died in hospital three days later, having suffered a stroke and blood clot to the brain.

Ajay Price, 21, Luke Bellis, 30, and John Lock, 35 were sentenced to life imprisonment for murder on Friday.

All three had been convicted after being found guilty at a trial at Worcester Crown Court on 22 February.

On the night of the assault, the defendants had carried out sustained and repeated blows to Mr Dyche, whose family had tried to intervene, West Mercia Police said.

Judge James Burbidge KC told the court the "fight" on 2 December 2021 had a "devastating" impact on many people.

"Although he died in hospital, in effect, Mr Dyche lost his life in front of his wife and stepson.

"There is only one sentence this court can impose for an offence of murder, and that's what it will impose - one of life," he said.

John Lock, Luke Bellis and Ajay Price were sentenced after being found guilty at Worcester Crown Court

Judge Burbidge said the men had been watching the Kington Christmas lights switch-on before the incident, describing them as "belligerent and aggressive".

The court heard how they had been known to Mr Dyche and had arrived to apologise after an earlier altercation involving his stepson's dad.

However, the three, two of which had been drinking heavily, then turned on him in what was a "completely unprovoked" attack.

In a victim impact statement in court, wife Charmaine Dyche said she had given up her job of 24 years and had suffered panic attacks and flashbacks after the incident.

She added that she and her son Max, who had to miss his GCSE's after the assault, were "too scared" to be left alone at home.

"People tell me I'll feel better in time, but I don't know how," she said.

"I wake up to the realisation of what happened every day."

All three men were sentenced to life, with Bellis, of High Street, Kington, told he must serve a minimum term of 17 years and six months before being eligible for parole.

Lock, of Greenfields, Kington, was told he should serve a minimum term of 17 years, with Price, of Wellington Lane, Canon Pyon, told he should serve a minimum of 15 years.

"No sentence the court can impose can erase the memory" of the incident, Judge Burbidge added.