Electrician is guilty of Dudley butcher's murder

An electrician from the Black Country was today starting a life sentence after being found guilty of murdering a Dudley butcher in a fight outside an Indian restaurant.

Mitchell Jones, aged 24, killed Jamie Roberts when an argument they were having spilled outside of the Rose of Kashmir in Wolverhampton Street, Dudley. He punched Mr Roberts and then kicked him in the head while he lay unconscious on the ground. A jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court took five hours to return a unanimous guilty verdict.

Jones, of Chad Road, Coseley, was told he must serve a minimum of 11 and a half years - minus the 240 days he spent in custody before the trial.

Judge John Wait told him yesterday: "This was a life taken in an act of senseless, drunken violence."

Mr Roberts, of Malthouse Drive, Dudley, died of severe head and brain injuries four days after the attack.

During the seven-day trial the court heard Jones punched Mr Roberts, knocking him to the ground. His head "cracked" against the kerb, said Mr Michael Burrows, prosecuting.

Jones denied kicking the father-of-two, a partner in the J & G Butchers business in Russells Hall Road, Dudley.

But four witnesses, including Mr Roberts's fiancee Beth Hodgkinson, said he did. Paul Price, a delivery driver for the restaurant, told the jury that Jones kicked his head "like a football".

Mr Roberts had been drinking in the Struggling Man pub in Salop Street with Miss Hodgkinson before going out for a meal at about 2am on April 18.

Jones claimed he was provoked by Mr Roberts verbally abusing him and threw a punch in self-defence.

But Judge Wait said: "In my opinion it is not relevant to decide who struck the first blow. It is clear that each of you anticipated a fight."

By Adam Burling