Gus Davies murder: Robert Field jailed for stabbing friend 325 times

Robert Field admitted murdering Gus Davies on the first day of a scheduled six-week trial

A man who stabbed a school friend at least 325 times and then dismembered his body has been jailed.

Robert Field, 23, of Brackley, Northamptonshire, was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 15 years and three months.

He had pleaded guilty on the first day of his trial at Northampton Crown Court in January.

The dismembered body of Gus Davies, 23, was found at the flat he shared with Field, and in woods two miles away.

The court heard how they both used and sold drugs in and around the south Northamptonshire town.

Police said the killing highlighted the "violence" linked to the drugs trade

On 22 June 2018 the pair got into an argument over an alleged robbery of Field of £45,000, by two men from Birmingham, which Mr Davies believed was staged.

A fight broke out and Field launched what Judge Adrienne Lucking QC called a "horrific and ferocious attack" on Mr Davies with a kitchen knife.

The defence told the court Mr Davies had initially gone to attack Field with the knife but did not claim Field acted in self-defence.

'Struggled to cope'

After Field had killed Mr Davies, he went a friend's house to borrow bin liners, rubber gloves, a saw and a spade.

He then dismembered Mr Davies' body, leaving his torso in the flat, and burying the limbs in woods near Turweston, a village two miles outside of Brackley.

The torso was discovered three days after the murder when Mr Davies' girlfriend and mother became concerned and called police.

The limbs were only discovered when Field gave police information after his guilty plea, after Mr Davies' funeral.

In a victim impact statement, Mr Davies' sister Florence said the family had "struggled to cope".

She said of the murder: "The word horrific doesn't cover it."

The body of Gus Davies, who was 23, was found in Old Town, Brackley, in June

Judge Lucking said: "The loss and the distress that [Mr Davies' family] speak of can never be undone by any sentence passed by the court."

Field was also sentenced to 18 months for possessing criminal property and six months for breaching a court order, both to run concurrently.