Bury St Edmunds father and son guilty of vigilante murder

Neil Charles was found with a single stab wound to his chest and a slash wound to his knee

A father and son who murdered a thief who had been trying car doors around their housing estate have been handed life sentences.

Neil Charles, 47, was stabbed in the chest in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, on 20 June 2021 and died in hospital.

David King, 56, and Edward King, 20, both of Radnor Close, had denied murder and were convicted in May last year.

King was sentenced to a minimum of 21 years and his son a minimum of 19 years at Ipswich Crown Court.

Tesco worker Edward King, who was 18 at the time, left his house with a 2ft (0.6m) Ninja sword after he saw on CCTV a person trying car doors and giving the thumbs-up, the court heard.

His father, who worked for construction firm Morgan Sindall, armed himself with a military dagger and left their home around a minute after his son.

Mr Charles was fatally stabbed with the dagger, and sliced across the knee by the sword.

David King and Edward King had shown arrogance and contempt throughout, police said

Prosecutor Richard Kelly described it as "vigilante behaviour" by the father and son, and "revenge or retaliation".

He added that the pair had been "looking to exact violence upon a local thief".

Officers found Mr Charles seriously wounded in Winsford Road and he died two days later.

A post-mortem examination concluded he died of a single 12cm (5in) stab wound to the chest, which the court heard was inflicted by David King.

Judge Martyn Levett said both men went out "with the intention of hunting down Mr Charles and at least causing him really serious harm".

He said a message thread indicated that the men thought they "needed the likes of Charles Bronson to bring justice back to the streets".

Neil Charles was killed by a single stab wound from a military dagger

The court heard police received a 999 call from David King at about 03:55 BST on 20 June stating a man had been trying to steal from his car on the Moreton Hall estate.

King told the call centre that he had tried to apprehend the man, who had run off.

He said he was not sure if Mr Charles was injured or "play acting", but that he may have been hurt when he ran at the knife he was holding.

Kieran Vaughan KC, for David King, said the defendant was "simply not the type of man to take a weapon on the street with the intention of causing serious injury to somebody".

Nicholas Whitehorn, for Edward King, said his client was "immature" at the time and took the sword to "wave around to scare off or ward off any attack on his house or on his vehicles".

Det Ch Insp Karl Nightingale said the Kings' actions had destroyed many lives, changed families and impacted their own community

Linnet Booth, the sister of Mr Charles, said in a victim impact statement that he was a "kind and gentle person" who was "never aggressive and always one to retreat when he didn't like a situation".

She said he had been due to marry his fiancee Michelle Jackson in August 2021.

"We know he took the wrong path in life but he wasn't violent or aggressive and that night he was simply trying to get away," said Ms Booth.

Ms Jackson described Mr Charles as "loving, caring and kind".

Det Ch Insp Karl Nightingale said the Kings had shown "arrogance and contempt throughout" and had told lies to try to save themselves from the sentences they deserved.

"Their obsession with weapons, pride over their possessions and threats to harm people who offended them dated back years prior to the killing of Mr Charles," he added."Their choice of weapons - a military dagger and a Ninja sword - demonstrate their intentions once they found Mr Charles."

Heather King, the wife of David King and mother of Edward King, said in a statement that they were "in the process of appealing" against the convictions.