Drug dealer not guilty of murder after 27-year-old stabbed to death in his flat

Kevin Draper, 55, was accused of stabbing Jack O’Brien, 27, seven times on December 3 last year, killing him, after Mr O’Brien had come into his home in Siddow Common, Leigh.

But during his trial at Manchester Crown Court Draper claimed that he had acted in self-defence after Mr O’Brien and two other men had tried to rob him of his drugs.

In her closing speech, Siobhan Grey KC, defending, said: “The defendant said that he didn’t want to kill Jack O’Brien, he said he was just trying to protect his own life.”

Ms Grey had told the court that Draper admitted to selling drugs to people he knew, but that on the fatal night last December, Mr O’Brien and two other men wanted to “tax him”.

The case was heard at Manchester Crown Court (Image: Anthony Moss) She said that Mr O’Brien had been an intruder and a trespasser in Draper’s house “from the get-go” and that the three men had planned to overpower and rob the 55-year-old.

She said: “The idea is to get him down the stairs, take his drugs, and go.”

But during the struggle the door had slammed shut behind Mr O’Brien, keeping the other two men out.

Ms Grey told the court that an injury to Draper’s right hand inflicted during the incident had not been fully shown in CCTV footage taken from a shop he had visited shortly afterwards.

Earlier in the trial prosecutor David Temkin KC had argued that Draper had not been acting in self-defence but had instead intended to kill Mr O’Brien.

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He said that for each of the seven wounds inflicted on the 27-year-old he had a key reason for why Draper was guilty.

Mr Temkin claimed that Draper was a man who “did not like to be challenged”.

During his closing speech, he said: “This was an unprovoked attack by a man who wanted to assert his dominance, not in self-defence, and intending to kill.”

The jury of five men and seven women found Draper, of Siddow Common, Leigh, not guilty of murder but convicted him of the lesser charge of manslaughter.

He is expected to be brought back to court for sentencing on Friday, July 4.

Source – INDIA TV