Halewood man who killed burglar after seeing break-in via Ring doorbell jailed - BBC News
Karl Townsend stabbed Jordan Brophy to death after seeing him breaking into his home on a phone app.
Karl Townsend was cleared of murder but found guilty of manslaughter

A man who stabbed a burglar to death after seeing him breaking into his home via a video doorbell has been jailed.

Jordan Brophy, 31, and three others targeted the home of Karl Townsend in Halewood on 29 October 2021 while he and his family were out.

Liverpool Crown Court heard the 32-year-old saw the break-in via a phone app and went home to confront the gang.

Townsend, who stabbed Mr Brophy several times, was found guilty of manslaughter and jailed for 19 years.

The court heard the burglars arrived at the property on Beechwood Avenue in a convoy of vehicles and had a getaway driver outside.

The judge said they had targeted Townsend's home with the intention of carrying out a "smash and grab" burglary to steal a stash of controlled drugs.

Their arrival was picked up by doorbell cameras and relayed to a phone app, which led Townsend to return home carrying a large kitchen knife, along with his younger half-brother Jamie Cunningham, who was also carrying a knife.

Townsend stabbed Mr Brophy repeatedly in the head, face and arms inside his home, before stabbing him again in the neck on the road outside, the court heard.

Mr Brophy's mother Lisa Ward told the court her son "was by no means perfect and innocent, but never did anyone ever, ever, have the right to take him from me".

Jordan Brophy died in hospital after being found in the street with stab wounds

Sentencing Townsend, Judge Andrew Menary QC said that "on any level, the unlawful violence used by you was truly shocking".

"Jordan Brophy was no angel, he had a number of previous convictions and was under investigation for other matters at the time," he said.

However, he added that "whatever he was doing on the night, he plainly did not deserve to die as he did."

Cunningham, 23, of Halewood, who was acquitted of murder and manslaughter at an earlier trial, was given a community sentence of two years supervision, with 10 days of rehabilitation activity, after he pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article halfway through a retrial.

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