Father and son who murdered thief in Bury St Edmunds vigilante attack are jailed for life

A father and son who stabbed a suspected thief to death in a vigilante attack have been sentenced to life in prison.

David King, 55, and his son Edward, 20, took the law into their own hands, arming themselves with a fighting knife and a 27-inch ninja sword before going out to hunt down Neil Charles, who had been seen trying car door handles on their estate, the court heard.

The pair, who were convicted in May last year, had claimed they had spotted an attempted break in on their own CCTV in the early hours of Sunday 20 June 2021 on the Moreton Hall estate in Bury St Edmunds.

The court heard they did not ring police before leaving the house.

Tesco worker Edward King was jailed for a minimum of 19 years, while David King, who worked for construction firm Morgan Sindall, was jailed for a minimum of 21 years.

Jailing them, Judge Martyn Levett said he was sure both men "had left to hunt Charles down and punish him with violence", describing it as a "needless death".

Body cam footage released by police shows the moment David King was arrested by police as dawn broke on the morning of the attack.

Prosecutor Richard Kelly described their actions as "vigilante behaviour" and said they had been “looking to exact violence upon a local thief”.

Mr Charles, 47, from Bury St Edmunds, had a number of previous convictions for theft and burglary.

The court heard David King used his fighting knife to inflict the fatal 12cm stab wound in Mr Charles's chest, while the ninja sword caused a wound to his left knee.

Police said Mr Charles was some distance from the Kings' property and was heading away from it when the pair caught up with him and delivered the fatal blow.

Analysis of both men’s text message history revealed they had a fascination with weapons and, following previous thefts in the area, wanted to deal with criminals themselves. 

The court heard that David King rang police at around 3.55am on Sunday 20 June, claiming a man had been trying to steal from his car.

He told the call-taker that he had tried to stop the man, who had run off.

He admitted he had had a knife in his hand and that the man had claimed he was injured by this before he ran away.

When police arrived, they found David King in Winsford Road, where the stabbing took place.

Other officers discovered the victim nearby.

He was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge but died of his wounds on 22 June.

Mr Kelly said there were attempts to cover up Edward King’s involvement in what happened.

Both defendants had denied murder, but were found guilty at trial.

The two men showed no reaction as they were led to the cells.

The judge 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”.

Prosecutor Mr Kelly said: “We do not say there was an intention to kill in this case. The intention was to do really serious bodily harm.”

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 the defendant 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”.

The court heard Edward King kept a collection of nine knives in his bedroom.

Teaching assistant 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”.

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.

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