30 years for killers of father

Two killers who ruthlessly "executed" a Staffordshire businessman in a military-style assassination to settle a drugs debt must serve a total of more than 30 years behind bars, a top judge has ruled.

Wesley Heath Dickens and Graham Charles Sampson were each jailed for life in 2002 after being convicted of murdering 45-year-old father-of-three Raymond Marshall, who was gunned down at his home in August 2001.

Mr Marshall's body was discovered days later by his wife Patsy at Mount Pleasant Farm, Grindley, near Uttoxeter, and post mortem evidence showed he had been shot nine times.

The trial heard that Sampson and Dickens were involved in producing amphetamines, and had gone to the farm to "settle some score".

Their case reached London's Royal Courts of Justice yesterday as Mr Justice Cooke ruled on the the minimum period they must serve before they can apply for parole.

He fixed an 18-year minimum term in the case of 39-year-old Dickens, formerly of no fixed address, and 14 years for Sampson, aged 45, formerly of Welshpool, Powys. The judge, who presided over the original trial, said the attack occurred after the drink-fuelled pair were driven to the isolated farmhouse by Dickens' girlfriend.

He told the court: "There, according to Sampson's evidence, Dickens woke up the victim who was asleep on the couch in the living room, pistol whipped him and caused his head to bleed and demanded money.

"He then took him upstairs, where a further argument took place and he then killed him in the bathroom."