Simon Jones death: Trio jailed over Chaddesden killing
A man who stabbed a 57-year-old man to death during a car park drugs deal has been jailed for life.
John Williams, 24, was found guilty of murdering Simon Jones in Derby last year by severing an artery in his leg. At Derby Crown Court, Williams was handed a 25-year minimum term. Co-accused Kirk Guy was jailed for 20 years and Jacob Ali for eight years after being convicted of manslaughter. A judge said the case "has been driven on all sides by drugs". "Engagement with drugs has led to deception, dishonesty, fear, violence and death," Judge Robin Knowles QC added. The trial heard a deal had been set up to exchange £7,000 of cocaine in Chaddesden Park on 20 April. But Williams, Guy and Ali - all from Derby - planned to steal the drugs with Guy ordering Mr Jones and his friend Carl Calladine to be "done over". A statement from the victim's son Chris Jones and daughter Kayleigh Mole said he was attacked "so callously, so aggressively". They added: "Our dad was a hard-working man who through no fault of his own was caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time with some terrible people." Williams, of Waterford Drive, and 34-year-old Guy, of Haydn Road, also received a concurrent sentence of 12 years for conspiracy to rob. Ali, 20, of Ashworth Avenue, was handed a concurrent eight-year sentence for the same charge. Three other men who previously admitted offences related to the case were also sentenced. Zak Stevens, 27, of Crewton Way, Derby, was jailed for three years and four months for assisting an offender. Thai Johnson, 20, of Renfrew Street, Derby, received two years and six months in jail for the same offence. Carl Calladine, 36, of Applewood Close, Belper, was jailed for five years for conspiracy to supply class A drugs. Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk.