Gosport murder trial verdicts returned after frenzied cocaine robbery

Aiden West, 24, of Tudor Close, Gosport, was found guilty of the murder of Levi Kent, 22, after a unanimous verdict was returned by the 11 jurors at Portsmouth Crown Court following 22 hours and 13 minutes of deliberations. 

Aiden West was found not guilty of possessing a blade but joins his half-brother Tommy West, 18, of Fisgard Road, in being convicted of Levi’s murder. Tommy West had also previously admitted robbery and possession of a blade following the cocaine robbery on Levi. 

Verdicts were also returned on Peter West, 43, of Fisgard Road, and his step-dad Michael Figgins, 64, of St Ann's Crescent. They were both found guilty of one charge of assisting an offender and not guilty of another count of assisting an offender. 

A decision over whether they will be remanded in custody ahead of the sentence hearing is yet to be made. Peter West is the father of Tommy West and former step-dad of Aiden West.

The court previously heard how Levi was repeatedly stabbed by Tommy West after being lured to shops behind Nobes Avenue after 2am on November 24 having refused to defer payment on a deal. The victim was knifed in his Vauxhall Corsa before attempting to escape and crashing his car into a wall. Levi was then chased into Keyes Road before he was set upon again.

The jury had been out since Monday lunchtime to consider their verdicts and were reduced to 11 people after one of the panel collapsed and was rushed to hospital on Tuesday.

Other people in the case include the brothers’ mother Joanne West, 45, of no fixed address, who has admitted two counts of assisting an offender. Liam Savage, 37, of Trinity Green in Gosport, has also admitted two counts of assisting an offender.

Sarah Flynn, 36, of James Close in Gosport, was charged with two counts of assisting an offender. 

The defendants in the case will now be sentenced on October 15/16. The trial started at the end of June and lasted seven weeks.