Father-and-son vigilante murderers David and Edward King see appeal bids dismissed
Police body cam footage released after sentence shows the moment David King tries to explain how he stabbed a suspected thief seen trying door handles
A father and son who murdered a thief who had been trying car doors near their home have lost bids to appeal against their convictions.
David and Edward King were jailed for life for the murder of Neil Charles, whom they attacked in the early hours of 20 June 2021, in Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.
Ipswich Crown Court heard that Mr Charles, 47, was stabbed with a dagger and died in hospital two days later.
David King was jailed for a minimum of 21 years in April 2023, with Edward King sentenced to at least 19 years behind bars, less time already spent in custody.
The pair sought to challenge their convictions at the Court of Appeal earlier this month, claiming they were unsafe, but three senior judges dismissed the appeal bids in a ruling on Thursday.
Lord Justice Warby, sitting with Mr Justice Goose and Judge Dennis Watson KC, said they were 'satisfied that the convictions are not arguably unsafe'.
In their judgment, Lord Justice Warby said that on the night of the murder, David and Edward King twice left their home in Radnor Close, Bury St Edmunds, to search for someone they had seen trying car doors, including those of a vehicle they owned, on CCTV.
He added that the pair eventually found and attacked Mr Charles, with Edward King – who was 18 at the time of the killing and 20 when he was sentenced – slicing Mr Charles' knee with a '27-inch Samurai sword', and David King, aged 56 at the time of sentence, stabbing Mr Charles in the chest with a 'bayonet-style' dagger.
At a hearing at the Court of Appeal on 2 May, Kieran Vaughan KC, for both men, said that the convictions were unsafe due to 'bad character' evidence wrongly being admitted at trial.
Lord Justice Warby said this included text messages between Edward and David King, which 'expressed hostility and violent thoughts towards thieves and burglars', and that 'numerous knives and other weapons had been acquired and kept at the family home', including machetes.
In the ruling, the judge said that the evidence concerning weapons 'was capable of demonstrating an obsessive and unhealthy interest in weapons', and dismissed the appeal bids.
Edward King also sought to challenge the length of his sentence, with Mr Vaughan arguing that his 'age and lack of maturity' were not properly taken into account, and that he played a 'secondary role' in the killing.
But this appeal bid was also dismissed, with Lord Justice Warby stating that the sentencing judge had not 'arguably erred'.
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