Brandon Regan murder: Two jailed for life over Speke scooter theft attack

Brandon Regan, 17, was found in a garden in Speke

Two men who stabbed a teenager to death because he stole a scooter from one of them have been jailed for life for his murder.

Brandon Regan was discovered by a resident in her Critchley Road garden in Speke, Liverpool on 29 January 2018.

Steven Jones, 24, from Netherley and Lewis Gibbons, 26, from Halewood, were found guilty of murder after a trial at Liverpool Crown Court.

Jack Butterworth, 22, from Widnes, was convicted of manslaughter.

Steven Jones and Lewis Gibbons were found guilty of murder

Jones was jailed for a minimum of 25 years, while Gibbons, who brought a meat cleaver and axe to the scene, was sentenced to a minimum of 21 years.

The court was told the 24-year-old drug dealer had stabbed Brandon four times over the scooter, which had previously been stolen by Jones before the 17-year-old took it.

Brandon then ran away and climbed over a wall into a garden, but collapsed and was found the next morning when a woman looked out of her kitchen window.

Butterworth, who rammed the teenager off the scooter in his Audi A4 prior to the attack, was jailed for 13 years, having previously admitted assisting an offender and perverting the course of justice.

Jack Butterworth, 22, was convicted of manslaughter

A fourth man Ryan Buckley, 33, from Speke, was found not guilty of the teenager's murder in April, after the prosecution offered no further evidence against him.

Passing sentence, Judge Alan Conrad QC said it had been "a vicious attack against an unarmed youth who had no chance of defending himself", adding that Jones had killed the teenager because he had "the effrontery" to take the scooter.

He also praised two witnesses for giving "important testimony", adding: "It is sometimes not easy to do the right thing , but they did the right thing and they are to be commended."

Speaking after sentencing, the Crown Prosecution Service's Nick Evans said the three had killed Brandon "save face and punish him for stealing... what a tragic end to a young life".

"These three men were out for revenge [and] they were all part of the action that led to Brandon being fatally stabbed," he added.