'My life has been turned upside down' - Horace Williams' widow speaks of anguish at the lies of knife killer Douane Brown

Mrs Elona Williams, aged 34 from West Bromwich – married for 14 years – fought back tears as she revealed: "It was horrific having to sit in court and listen to lie after lie being told about my husband without being able to answer back."

Douane Brown claimed he was acting in self defence when the murder took place while the pair stood in a queue at a Bureau de Change in Cape Hill, Smethwick.

The 39-year-old maintained the pair had fallen out after he refused to set up a robbery target for Mr Williams to rob who then spat in the street whenever they passed.

The defendant further alleged that Williams – who he called Mad Head – had once put a gun in his back but stole nothing.

Police received reports of these alleged incidents for the first time after the murder making them difficult to check. They found no evidence to confirm the claims.

Judge Mark Wall QC said at Birmingham Crown Court he sentenced on the basis that Brown had been threatened by Mr Williams in the past but posed no threat when stabbed. He told the defendant who a very low IQ: "You were there for revenge for what he had done to you. You intended to kill him as to have wounded him would be likely to have led to more trouble and exacerbated your difficulties with him rather than relieve them."

Mrs Williams disclosed after the case: "I was devastated by Horace's death and have been under constant stress since then. I am happy that justice has now been done but it does not bring him back.

"My life has been turned upside down. He was a loving husband who loved all his children – a family man. Now they will have to grow up without a father."

She said of the way in which unarmed Mr Williams, whose only previous convictions were for motoring offences, met his death: "He was robbed of his life for that? It makes no sense." Mrs Williams is the mother of two of the children of her husband who had six other children and ran his own music production business. Brown was born and grew up in Jamaica. He arrived in the UK in 2001, living in London for a short time before setting up home in Birmingham.

He married in 2004, has four children and worked as a labourer and electricians mate before becoming a carpenter. He has no previous convictions. Brown was a big man whose is IQ is amongst the lowest three percent of the population and he hasthe reading age of a nine year old. Mrs Williams said her husband was not the sort of person to have taken advantage of this vulnerability.

Tragedy struck when both men decided to send money to Jamaica at the same time and place on April 16. Mohamed Mohamed who runs the Bureau to Change in Cape Hill, Smethwick said he heard Brown ask 'why are you staring at me?' as they stood together moments before the stabbing that was captured on CCTV. Brown from Bickington Road, Bartley Green was found guilty of murder after telling the jury: "I turned and said: 'Every time you see me you trouble me. Leave me alone.'

He didn't say anything back but he fumbled in his pocket and I expected him to pull out a gun." As Mr Williams lay dying in the street outside the Bureau de Change Brown was on Google checking flights to Jamaica.

The following day he booked a seat on a plane that left Gatwick Airport on April 18. He was arrested while driving through Birmingham the night before take off in the same loaned vehicle in which he had left the murder scene.

His first question of the armed police officers who arrested him was: 'How did you know it was me?'