Cordwainer House death: Five jailed for killing rival drug dealer
Five men have been jailed for killing a rival drug dealer who was "repeatedly stabbed and left for dead" in his home.
Reece Ottaway, 23, died at Cordwainer House in Byfield Road, Northampton, on 1 February. The jury at Northampton Crown Court were told the group went to his flat to rob him of money and drugs. Four were found guilty of murder and given life sentences while another man was convicted of manslaughter and jailed for 16 years. In sentencing them, Judge Adrienne Lucking QC said: "Reece Ottaway was seen by all of you as being a rival drug dealer. "You went to his home as he was sleeping in the living room with his girlfriend." Prosecutor David Herbert QC had told the trial the men came armed with a baseball bat, a BB gun and a machete, which he said was a "fearsome weapon". He said the men "smashed their way" into Mr Ottaway's flat, in a social housing complex. He was then "repeatedly stabbed and left for dead", he said. Mr Herbert told the jury that Mr Ottaway suffered seven separate stab wounds, including one which was 15cm deep. Mr Ottaway's mother Charlotte Marshall told the sentencing hearing his death had "broken" the family. She said: "This was the cruellest act possible, the malicious taking of the life of a gentle man, my own sweet baby boy." Four men were found guilty of murder on Wednesday and had all previously admitted conspiracy to rob: Ethan Stirling, 21, of Baukewell Court, Lumbertubs, was found guilty of manslaughter and conspiracy to commit robbery and was sentenced to 16 years.