A man who butchered his long-term friend to escape a £20,000 debt has been jailed for a minimum of 18 years, this month.
Oral Seaton, a local pub chef who lived and worked at The Angel in Woolhampton, Berkshire, knifed Winston Dowe-Stephenson more than 100 times during the gruesome attack in Luton on 25 September 2008.
Seaton claimed in court that him and Stephenson were lovers - an accusation which the deceased's family dispute.
Luton Crown Court heard how Seaton stabbed Dowe-Stephenson in the heart eight times and severed an artery. He also stabbed him 16 times in the lungs and repeatedly knifed him in the side, arms, shoulder, legs and hands.
Dowe-Stephenson, who suffered a slow and painful death, also had a fractured skull.
Seaton, 45, had only repaid half of his £20,000 short-term loan, but was asked to complete it in order for Dowe-Stephenson to purchase property in Turkey, where he was moving.
The court heard Seaton drove to Dowe-Stephenson’s flat in Frederick Gate in the early hours of 25 September after he had flown in to Stansted Airport the night before, following a visit to his boyfriend in Germany.
The jury heard how a man living in a flat below was woken by several loud bangs from Dowe-Stephenson’s residence and fast footsteps like something was being dragged.
At 7.18am that morning, Seaton’s car registration was recorded by average speed cameras on the southbound carriageway of M1 heading away from Luton.
Seaton was convicted of murder by a jury of five men and seven women by a majority of 10 to two after considering their verdict for 10 hours and 46 minutes.
Jailing him for life, Judge John Bevan QC said: “I have no idea why you made him suffer and you have shown not a jot of remorse.”