A man has been jailed for a minimum of 20 years after being found guilty of stabbing to death another man at a supported living hostel where they both resided. Steven Thwaites, 62, was found guilty following a trial at Blackfriars Crown Court London on Wednesday, 26 September.
He was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 20 years.
The victim, 60-year-old Vincent Douglas (05.10.57) was stabbed to death in December 2017.
Police were called on 1 December following reports of a male suffering from stab injuries.
Officers attended and discovered Vincent in the garden of the address. Officers immediately began to administer first aid prior to the arrival of colleagues from the London Ambulance Service.
Despite subsequent efforts from paramedics, Vincent was pronounced dead at the scene and a crime scene was established.
A post-mortem examination held on 2 December at Greenwich Mortuary gave cause of death as a stab wound to the abdomen. Vincent had also received stab injuries to the liver, face, and hands.
As officers spoke to residents at the scene, Thwaites claimed Vincent had inflicted the wounds himself but gave differing accounts of where he had seen him, first claiming he had been on the ground floor but later stating Vincent had been on the top floor.
Thwaites then claimed he had taken the knife Vincent allegedly used to inflict his injuries and washed it before placing it in a drawer in his kitchen.
CCTV enquiries subsequently showed Vincent going downstairs from his room with a head injury; he was then captured with a stab wound to his abdomen visible before he went outside the building, pursued by Thwaites who was armed with a knife.
Thwaites required hospital treatment for laceration injuries to his hands that he claimed were as a result of taking the knife from Vincent.
He was arrested on suspicion of murder upon discharge from hospital. During interviews he again gave differing accounts to police of what had happened.
He was subsequently charged with murder.