Life sentences for killers

TWO young men convicted of murdering a terminally-ill Lowestoft man were yesterday sentenced to life in prison.

James Killingback, 23, and Aaron Breffitt, 17, were found guilty of killing father-of-three John Vry after a trial last year.

During the trial at Ipswich Crown Court, the jury heard that Mr Vry left his home in London Road South, Lowestoft, on the evening of December 3 2008 to buy some chips.

Shortly after leaving the shop he was confronted by Killingback and Breffitt. He was then dragged into an alleyway and held down while being kicked and punched.

The 55-year-old died of his injuries in hospital the following day.

Yesterday, Killingback, of Denmark Road in Lowestoft, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 19 years and Breffitt, who is of no fixed address, was ordered to serve life in prison with a minimum of 12 years.

At the time of his death, Mr Vry was preparing to spend his final Christmas with his wife and three children after being told in the summer of 2008 that he had terminal bowel cancer and had a life expectancy of three to six months.

A post mortem examination showed that the former electrician had suffered a severe injury during the attack that had caused brain damage and bleeding around the brain.

During the trial, prosecutor Karim Khalil told the court that the pair had chosen a defenceless victim who was “plainly not a strong man” and had “literally kicked him to death” for a reason only they knew, or perhaps for no reason at all.

A number of witnesses had called the police after seeing Mr Vry being dragged into the alleyway and one of the first people to arrive on the scene was Mr Vry's son John Junior, who had gone out looking for his father when he did not return from the chip shop.

The pair both denied murder, but were found guilty after a trial lasting three weeks in October last year.