Five convicted of assisting brothers to murder

Five people have been convicted for helping two brothers avoid arrest after the pair murdered a drug courier.

Levi Kent, 22, was stabbed to death in Gosport, Hampshire, in November 2023 after refusing to give Aiden West, 25, and Tommy West, 18, credit for cocaine.

The brothers received life sentences at Portsmouth Crown Court on Tuesday and Tommy West’s father Peter West was given two years for supporting his son.

At the same court, their mother Joanne West was sentenced to 15 months and Sarah Flynn and Liam Savage were sentenced to 12 months for assisting an offender.

The time they have already spent in prison counts towards their sentence.

The court heard how Tommy and Aiden West planned to rob Kent after he refused to delay payment for cocaine.

They met him behind shops in Nobes Avenue in the early hours of November 24.

Tommy West was armed with a knife, while Aiden West watched nearby.

Mr Kent was stabbed in his car by Tommy West and crashed into a wall nearby.

The victim started to run away, but was chased by the pair.

Mr Kent was pronounced dead in hospital and a post-mortem examination revealed he had suffered six stab wounds, including one fatal wound to the heart.

Aiden West, of Tudor Close, was sentenced to 28 years in prison for murder and six years concurrently for robbery at Portsmouth Crown Court.

His half-brother Tommy West, of Fisgard Road, was jailed for 21 years for murder, plus concurrent sentences of five years for theft and one year for possessing a knife in a public place.

Peter West 43, of Wimpson Lane in Southampton, and Michael Figgins, 64, St Ann’s Crescent in Gosport, gathered the offenders into a car after the attack.

They were both found guilty of helping Peter’s son Tommy throw away his clothes.

Peter West appeared in court on Tuesday and was jailed for two years, while Michael Figgins will be sentenced in November.

Sarah Flynn, 36, of James Close in Gosport, admitted putting Tommy West’s blood-stained clothes in a communal bin.

Joanne West, 45, arranged for a taxi to take her sons from the crime scene to the home of Liam Savage, 38, in Harbor Tower, where he admitted to offering them a safe haven.

Mark Phillips, 56, of Gilbert Close in Gosport was given a six-month suspended sentence for perverting the course of justice after deliberately lying to police about Ms West’s taxi booking.

Judge Bowes said in his sentencing remarks on Wednesday that the crimes were committed “against the tragic backdrop of the horrific and brutal murder of Levi Kent”.

Addressing each of the defendants, he said they all “knew something very bad had happened” when they took action to help the brothers.

Mr Bowes told Joanne West that “any mother will feel a lot of pressure when one of her children is in trouble”.

He added that her slightly longer sentence was because she “knew it was really serious” and she still “took steps to help her sons.”

Mr Bowes said there was “an element of orchestration” in Joanne West’s actions and described her as “an instigator”.