In 2024 Aiden and Tommy West were jailed for a combined total of 49 years following a “savage” cocaine robbery murder of Levi Kent in Gosport. Tommy West received a minimum term of 21 years while Aiden West was jailed for a minimum term of 28 years.
A year earlier in 2023 in Leigh Park, jealous serial-killer obsessed Shaye Groves knifed her on-off boyfriend Frankie Fitzgerald to death in a frenzied stabbing while he slept. The warped killer then filmed the murder scene on her phone and laughed about what she had done to a friend – helping to incriminate herself. She was locked away for a minimum term of 23 years after being handed a life term.
There have been other brutal murders that have shocked our communities in recent times which you may recall.
See below for some of these.
1. Aiden and Tommy West who murdered Levi Kent
The murdering brothers jailed for a combined total of 49 years following a “savage” cocaine robbery on Levi Kent, 22, in Gosport. Levi was repeatedly knifed by Tommy West when lured to shops behind Nobes Avenue shortly after 2am on November 24, 2023. The victim was stabbed in his Vauxhall Corsa before attempting to escape and crashing his car into a wall. Levi, who had refused to defer payment on a deal, was then chased into Keyes Road before he was set upon again. He died following a fatal blow to his heart amid six blunt force injuries. Tommy West was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years while Aiden West was jailed for a minimum term of 28 years. Photo: NW
2. Shaye Groves murder of Frankie Fitzgerald in Leigh Park
Serial-killer obsessed Shaye Groves, 27, was put behind bars for life with a minimum term of 23 years. The ruthless killer was locked away for murdering Frankie Fitzgerald, 25, after a frenzied knife attack at her Botley Drive, Leigh Park, home on July 17, 2022, in which she stabbed him in the neck and chest 22 times. Groves, who denied the offence after pleading self-defence, smiled after she was found guilty by jurors at Winchester Crown Court - the same court her serial killer icon Rose West was jailed at in 1995. Groves, who had been seen joking in the dock during the trial and after she was found guilty, was motionless as the sentence was delivered. Judge Timothy Kerr said described the killing as a ‘senseless murder’ that was a ‘crime of passion’. ‘You lost your temper and acted on impulse. If you could not have Frankie no one could,’ he said, before adding: ‘You loved the man you killed, and you killed the man you loved. You are not a cold-blooded murderer, a crime of passion is not committed in cold blood.’ Photo: NW
3. Shane Mays murder of Louise Smith in Leigh Park
Shane Mays murdered Louise Smith on May 8, 2020. Louise was living with Mays and his wife Chazlynn at their one-bedroom flat in Ringwood House, Somborne Drive, in Leigh Park, after being thrown out of a relative’s home. ‘Crafty’ Mays, who had an IQ of 63, lured Louise to Havant Thicket where, by his own account, he repeatedly punched her face with both hands causing ‘catastrophic’ injuries. He claimed to have instantly forgotten what he did, walking to his mother's home in Stratfield Gardens and saying he had taken Louise to Emsworth. Mays said the same to his wife and Louise’s boyfriend Bradley Kercher, who he later tried to deflect blame upon. Prosecutors say he secretly crept back and burned Louise’s body, which was found 13 days after the May 8 killing after a search involving 306 people, drones and dogs. Mrs Justice Juliet May jailed Mays for life with a minimum term of 25 years but ruled she could not be sure it was sexually or sadistic in its motivation. However, she did rule Mays ‘intended to kill’ the teenager when striking her repeatedly in the clearing at Havant Thicket, not just cause really serious harm. Sentencing, Mrs Justice May said Mays ‘terribly murdered’ Louise and the death of a vulnerable child was ‘particularly grievous’. The judge said: ‘Louise had been grotesquely and cruelly injured, and her body defiled.’ Photo: NW
4. Mark Brandford's murder of Kayleigh Dunning in Portsmouth
Jealous boyfriend Mark Brandford was found guilty of brutally murdering his fiancee Kayleigh Dunning by crushing her skull - and was jailed for 23 years in March 2021. The Colas road sweeper, 49, was found to be behind the ‘ferocious’ murder at his Kingston Crescent flat in North End overnight on December 16-17, 2019. He was also convicted for revenge porn after he was found to have been sending naked pictures of Ms Dunning to friends for a number of years. Judge Timothy Mousley told Brandford the murder was ‘premeditated and planned’ before he used a crowbar to deliver around 30 blows to his victim’s head as well as stabbing her in the neck with a knife. ‘It was a brutal attack,’ he said. ‘She was struck in the head and face and it was to her great courage that she tried to defend herself. ‘But your attack was so ferocious that you rendered her unconscious and immobile. It was clear you intended to kill her.’ He added: ‘You hit her repeatedly - probably about 30 blows to her head. These injuries were probably fatal.' The judge told Brandford his ‘deep feelings of jealousy’ were fuelled by his knowledge of Ms Dunning’s relationship with her former boyfriend. Photo: NW