Killer burglars jailed for 15 years each

Two men, one of them from Stafford, were today starting jail sentences totalling 30 years for killing an 87-year-old man who disturbed them as they burgled his home.

Former marine Charles Green was knocked to the ground, overpowered and threatened by Danny Keeble while co-defendant Peter Marston ransacked his bungalow in Oswestry.

The pensioner suffered a broken hip and his heart could not cope with the trauma. He died in the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in June last year – a month after the attack.

At Stafford Crown Court both men, who were found guilty of manslaughter at an earlier hearing, were each jailed for 15 years. Keeble, aged 26, of no fixed address, and Marston, 24, of Stafford, had denied the manslaughter of Mr Green and assault with intent to rob on May 2, 2011. Marston had also denied burglary, a charge Keeble had admitted.

Judge Simon Tonking said he was not differentiating between the two sentences, even though he said it was obvious that it had been Keeble who had assaulted Mr Green.

"It was not the extent of the violence that caused Mr Green's death," the judge said. "He had heart disease and an irregular heart beat which he had been living with perfectly well."

But the judge said the fractured hip had led to a deterioration in the victim's health which, coupled with the stress of the attack, left his heart unable to cope.

The burglary took place in the early hours of May 2 at Mr Green's bungalow in Ambleside Road.

The men threatened Mr Green to tell him where his bank card and pin number.

Defence lawyers for the two men said neither of them had gone out with any intention of causing violence.