Pair who planned to kill Josh Stone have sentences cut
Two men convicted of plotting to rob and kill international pop star Joss Stone have won challenges against the length of their sentences.
Junior Bradshaw, 33, had his 18-year sentence cut to 10 years by three Court of Appeal judges in London.
Kevin Liverpool, 36, who was originally given a life sentence with a minimum term of 10 years and eight months, had his minimum reduced to six-and-a-half years.
The pair, of St Stephen’s Close, Longsight, Manchester, were found guilty of conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to rob following a three-week trial at Exeter Crown Court last year.
They drove from Manchester to Miss Stone’s home in mid-Devon with an arsenal of weapons to rob and kill her.
When the pair were sentenced, Judge Francis Gilbert, the Recorder of Exeter, branded Liverpool a danger to the public and said he targeted Miss Stone to get more than £1m from her.
He told him: ”You intended to rob her and kill her and dump her body in the river, according to your words, and then leave the country with your accomplice, Junior Bradshaw. You had no reason to target her except that she was a wealthy young woman as she was a successful singer.“
Liverpool and Bradshaw had scouted Miss Stone’s home and were on their way to attack her armed with a sword, three knives, two hammers, masks, gloves and a hosepipe when they were arrested in Cullompton in June 2011.
Suspicious residents had called the police, having spotted their badly-damaged Fiat Punto in the area.
The pair told police they were lost and were trying to get to Bristol but officers became wary and quickly discovered the cache in the boot.
