Pair jailed over Shepshed murder

Two men have been sentenced to life imprisonment following the murder of Tim Smith who was killed in Shepshed

Two men have been sentenced to life imprisonment following the murder of Tim Smith who was killed in Shepshed earlier this year.

20-year-old Mark Anthony Law of Sandringham Rise, Shepshed pleaded guilty to the murder at Leicester Crown Court.

He will serve a minimum of 19 years before being eligible for parole.

His co-accused Mason Casey, 18, of Ludlow Place, Shepshed stood trial at Leicester Crown Court and was found guilty of murder. He will serve a minimum of 15 years before being eligible for parole.

Police were called shortly before 9pm on Thursday 16 March by the ambulance service who had attended the report of a road traffic collision in Gelders Hall Road.

A vehicle had been found which had seemingly collided with a wall. The driver of the vehicle, 45-year-old Tim, was unresponsive and following examination he was found to be suffering from injuries which were not consistent with a collision.

Tim died at the scene and a post mortem examination later revealed he died of a stab wound to the heart.

Detectives managed to establish from examining Tim’s mobile phone and extensive CCTV work, he had pre-arranged to meet Law after chatting on a social network site and picked him near to his home address at around 8.30pm that evening. Casey also joined them in the car.

It was later discovered that Tim drove to the industrial estate and parked the car. It was while he was in the car with Law, he was stabbed.

Both men fled the scene on foot leaving Tim fatally injured. He managed to reverse the car and attempted to drive out of the car park, but collided with a wall at the entrance and collapsed.

He was found by a member of staff at one of the nearby premises who had come outside after he had heard the collision.