Drug user convicted of killing dealer jailed

A cannabis user convicted of unlawfully killing a drug dealer who arrived at his home armed with a knife has been jailed for three years and seven months.

Kieran Roche, 30, of Station Road, Cuffley, Hertfordshire, in October was found not guilty of murdering Robert Tyler-Jones, after a trial at St Albans Crown Court, but guilty of manslaughter.

Jurors heard how Mr Tyler-Jones, 24, of Northaw, Hertfordshire, was fatally wounded with a kitchen knife he had been carrying during a confrontation at Roche's flat in April.

Roche, who was jailed by Judge Lana Wood on Thursday, had told jurors that he had been in a "fight for survival".

Barrister Nathan Rasiah KC, prosecuting, had said Mr Tyler-Jones told a friend that Roche had "stolen" two bags of cannabis from someone else.

He said Mr Tyler-Jones, a former warehouse worker, had bought one bag from Roche for £700 and wanted to buy the second.

A few days before he died, Mr Tyler-Jones had joked that he could ''go rob'' Roche.

On 23 April, he armed himself with a kitchen knife and drove to Roche's flat, Mr Rasiah said.

Mr Tyler-Jones was caught on CCTV running from Roche's flat shortly after arriving.

He had suffered stab wounds to his abdomen and chest and died shortly afterwards.

Roche had denied unlawfully killing Mr Tyler-Jones - and pleaded not guilty to murder and manslaughter.

He told jurors how Mr Tyler-Jones had arrived at his flat and threatened him with a knife.

Roche described how he had grappled with Mr Tyler-Jones but said he had not stabbed him and told jurors, "it was obviously fight or flight for me".

Mr Tyler-Jones had dropped the knife and left the flat, he said.

"At the time I didn't actually know he had been stabbed," Roche told jurors.

"The motion of going back and forward. The two of our hands has created a force which obviously ended up with him being stabbed."

Det Sgt Steve Boddy, a member of the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, said after the sentencing: "I hope today's result brings some sense of justice for Robert's family and reassures the public that those who use a knife will face consequences."

Mr Tyler-Jones's family said: "The loss of Robert has absolutely devastated our lives in ways that words can never fully express."

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