Published: Saturday, 17th May, 2008 10:05am

Killer stabbed pal after drunken row

by Court Reporter

Comments (0) | Print | Email

A VIOLENT man who stabbed his drinking buddy to death has been jailed for a minimum of 22 years.

Richard Blower, 36, of Trewarden Avenue, Iver, stabbed father-of-seven Mark Yates, 35, in the chest with a seven-inch kitchen knife in a drunken row at a flat in West Drayton on August 30, 2006. He had been out of jail for less than a year after a lengthy sentence for arson.

Blower, who boasted to a stranger afterwards ‘you'll see me in the papers tomorrow', and who was seen leaving the scene clutching a bloody knife, fled to Birmingham after the attack and was not arrested by police until three weeks later.

In his police interview he admitted meeting up with Mr Yates but claimed he left the flat before the stabbing.

He admitted hitting Mr Yates on the nose and said he had drunk a bottle of vodka and smoked ‘about 10 spliffs' on the day of the killing.

During the eight-day trial at Blackfriars Crown Court it emerged that Blower had a conviction for arson with intent to endanger life after torching his former lover's flat in Slough when she and her family were inside.

He was jailed for nine years after this attack and was released after six years. Within 12 months of release he murdered Mr Yates, who worked as a welder at Pinewood Studios in Iver Heath.

In sentencing Blower for murder on Thursday last week, Judge Timothy Pontius told him: "You have a record which makes it absolutely plain that you are a violent man with an unpredictable and volatile temperament, which is largely affected by the consumption of considerable quantities of drink and drugs.

"You are likely to remain dangerous until you are rid of this dependence. What perhaps began as a minor argument between drunken companions escalated in moments, if not seconds, into a loss of temper, arising no doubt out of some imagined slight."

The 592 days Blower spent in remand will be deducted from his life sentence.

Liz Garner, who lived at the property where the murder took place, and her parents Carol and Tony Pope are awaiting sentencing for perverting the course of justice. It was discovered they had used 18 sim cards in three handsets to send threatening texts to themselves to protect the murderer.