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September 3, 2007 Monday
Alcoholic killed his own brother
Droitwich Advertiser
A man who killed his older brother by ferociously beating him up after they had been binging on vodka has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.
Alcoholic Phillip Stevens, of Farriers Corner, Droitwich Spa, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his brother Ronald Stevens during an incident in November.
Prosecutor Christopher Millington QC told Warwick Crown Court that during the afternoon Stevens, drunk and in a panic, told one of his brother's neighbours that he was dead.
She followed him into Ronald's home in Overfield Road, Bartley Green, Birmingham, where she saw Ronald's body.
Stevens, aged 47, said he had killed him and pointed to an empty vodka bottle, saying: "Look how much we've drunk." He was shouting at his brother to get up and saying he could not believe he was dead, and when the police arrived Stevens said he had woken up after they had been on a drinking binge for several days and had found Ronald in that state.
There were 68 separate marks of injury, of which 19 bruises and lacerations were to Ronald's head and face, while there were 13 marks to his body, deep tissue injuries to his chest and neck and defensive-type bruises to his forearms. There were mild to moderate haemorrhages' to the brain, but no swelling - and Mr Millington said the injuries to the brain were not necessarily life-threatening.'
But the head injuries contributed to Ronald's death in combination with the potentially lethal' level of alcohol in his system - about seven times the legal limit for driving.
Mr Millington said there was a history of Stevens physically abusing 56-year-old Ronald, who had previously lived with his partner Diane Northway in Droitwich Spa, "where he had run a taxi business, from the late 70s until 2003". But the business failed and the pressure of that sent his drinking out of control.
After moving out into his own flat he made contact with Stevens, who had convictions for violence, and gave him a home when he was freed from a jail sentence for burglary.
Stevens sponged off Ronald who, for a while, moved to stay with their sister in Wales before returning and moving into the bungalow in Bartley Green where Stevens began to visit regularly and they would drink heavily together.
But Stevens was violent towards his brother, who was seen with injuries including bite marks to his nose and ear.
When he was questioned Stevens claimed his brother had fallen against a wall, adding: "However he got those injuries, I was not the person who caused them."
Paul Farrer QC, defending, said the brothers were close, and although Stevens had worked in a warehouse, they sporadically worked together as painters and decorators.
Ronald and his wife separated because she could not tolerate his heavy drinking, and after Stevens, who had only been a social drinker, and his partner split up he went on a downward spiral and ended up getting through a litre of vodka, nine to twelve litres of cider and many cans of beer a day, spending the £20,000 equity he got from their home.
Of the brothers, Mr Farrer said: "They were two alcoholics drinking together, and they bickered and on occasions that became physical, but they always made up.
"Both of these men had been drinking to dangerous levels, even for seasoned alcoholics. He has no recollection of launching the assault which led to his brother's death.
"This attack would not have been fatal if it had not been for the trauma of the head injury combined with the very high level of alcohol," added Mr Farrer.
Jailing Stevens, Judge Richard Griffith-Jones told him: "I have no doubt the drunken violence you administered to him was done in a sustained and ferocious way."
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