Craig Robins killing: Two guilty over Hednesford attack

Bernie Smith (left) and Kyle Smith (right) had both denied a charge of manslaughter

Two men have been found guilty of manslaughter 15 years after attacking a disabled man in his car.

Craig Robins was 27 when he was stabbed in Hednesford, Staffordshire, in 2006. He died in 2019.

Bernie Peter Smith, 30, and Kyle Neil Smith, 33, will be sentenced with two other men who had previously admitted charges.

Gavin Dwain Brown, 36, had admitted murder while James Ainsley Milligan, 42, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Mr Robins had been paralysed from the chest down since a car crash in 1997 and used a wheelchair and an adapted car.

Stafford Crown Court heard he was attacked with a brick and a machete after going out to find the people he believed were responsible for vandalising his vehicle.

Staffordshire Police said he received stab wounds to his face.

The force said one of the stab wounds had fractured his skull and caused a substantial brain injury.

He never regained consciousness and needed to be cared for by his parents at their home.

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Craig Robins died in 2019, more than a decade after he was attacked

The guilty four had previously been convicted in 2007 in connection with the attack, but faced new charges after Mr Robins's death.

Police said medical evidence suggested he died due to injuries sustained in the stabbing.

It took a jury at Stafford Crown Court nearly three days to reach their guilty verdicts on Bernie Smith, of Rowley Close, Hednesford, and Kyle Smith, of Pebble Drive, Blackfords, Cannock, following a two-week trial.

Milligan, of Canford Place, Cannock, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on 7 September, and Brown, of HMP Lancaster Farm, admitted murder earlier in the year.

All four will be sentenced at a date to be fixed in November.