Man Jailed For Yeovil Stabbing

24 January 2019, 18:28 | Updated: 24 January 2019, 18:29

A man has been jailed for six years after being found guilty of killing another man in Yeovil last summer.

Joseph ‘Joe’ Jennings died in the stairwell of some flats on Great Western Terrace back in July, after being stabbed nine times.  

Kristian William Bailey, 28, has been found guilty of his manslaughter at Bristol Crown Court.

The court heard how Mr Jennings was at Bailey’s flat in Great Western Terrace with two other men when an argument broke out over drugs. The prosecution said Bailey repeatedly stabbed Mr Jennings with a knife and then left the scene.

He was arrested later that night and appeared in court charged with murder on Thursday 19 July.  He denied murder and claimed he was acting in self-defence. 

The jury dismissed the proposition that Mr Bailey was acting in reasonable self-defence, and could not be sure that he intended to cause really serious harm. 

They found him not guilty of murder but found him guilty of manslaughter.

He will be sentenced at Bristol Crown Court tomorrow.

Mr Jennings’ sister, who asked not to be named, said: “Joe was a lovable rogue who would do anything for anyone if he was able to, whose life was taken in such a horrific way. He has left a huge hole in his sisters’ and family’s lives. Hopefully he can now rest in peace.”

Senior Investigating Officer DI Mike Buck said: “I want to pay tribute to the dignity shown by Mr Jennings’s family throughout the trial and to the bravery shown by all the witnesses who attended court to give evidence.”