Men cleared of 2019 revenge murder after retrial

Two men who were jailed for life in 2023 for a revenge murder have been found not guilty after a retrial.

Frazer Brabant, 31, was attacked with a sword-like weapon in a garden in Basingstoke, Hampshire, on 31 October 2019, police previously said.

Lee Wood, of no fixed address, was previously jailed for a minimum of 29 years, while Forhad Miah, of Chestnuts Close, Oakley, was given a minimum 28-year sentence at Winchester Crown Court.

However, the pair, both now aged 35, have been cleared of murder, conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent and violent disorder.

A group of men chased Brabant from a flat into a next-door garden in Gershwin Road on 31 October 2019, prosecutors said.

They ignored his pleas for mercy and launched a "sustained ferocious and brutal" attack, the court heard.

The father of two remained in a coma until his death on 21 January 2020.

In a victim statement, his mother Julie Threshie said she spent three months living at Southampton General Hospital to be with him.

Previously, the jury heard Brabant had stolen cannabis from one of the men in an "audacious" knifepoint robbery and had not long been discharged from a psychiatric hospital.

Two men - Scott Neale, then aged 35, of Spindle Close, Basingstoke and James O'Connor, 25, of Fairfield, Whitchurch - were also jailed for murder in July 2023.

Neale's brother, Ricky Lewis, 40, of Candover Court, Basingstoke, was jailed for six years for helping to organise the conspiracy.

The BBC has contacted the Crown Prosecution Service for comment.

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