A Dumfriesshire man helped pave the way for two killers to flee the country in the aftermath of a brutal Carlisle stabbing.
Jurors at the city’s crown court heard how Ross Neville, 32, of Broadmeadows Farm, Canonbie, was one of three people who played key criminal roles after Kane Hull, 29, knifed Ryan Kirkpatrick to death as part of a plan carried out with Liam Porter, 33.
Hull and Porter denied the murder of Mr Kirkpatrick, 24, who died despite the best efforts of bystanders, police and medics after suffering three stab wounds in an attack lasting barely 30 seconds.
The brutal assault happened at the Carlyle’s Court shopping complex just before 9pm on Saturday, September 18, 2021.
Carlisle Crown Court heard of previous “bad blood” between Mr Kirkpatrick and Hull.
There had been an initial incident involving the men just 15 minutes before the fatal stabbing, while Hull had previously been locked up, in 2018, after Mr Kirkpatrick was attacked in a betting shop.
Hull and Porter denied they were the masked figures who returned to Carlyle’s Court and then fled in a Volvo S40 which was set alight even before Mr Kirkpatrick had been pronounced dead.
However, a jury found them both unanimously guilty on Monday after hearing evidence in the case. And on Tuesday the pair were given life prison sentences.
Hull, of no fixed address, must serve a minimum of 28 years behind bars and Porter, of Fulmar Place, Carlisle, 26 years.
Jurors were told how the killers were assisted by three others – including Neville – as they went on the run, changing phone numbers, checking into new addresses using fake names and using stolen cars on false plates.
Just after midnight, a witness saw burning items being thrown from the window of a pick-up type vehicle in the Smithfield area.
After CCTV sightings of Hull and Porter in Hawick and Langholm, they travelled to Northern Ireland by ferry and then to Southern Ireland. 10 days after the murder, they were arrested by Irish police at a rural retreat at Carracastle, County Mayo.
Neville had admitted two charges of assisting an offender before Hull and Porter went on trial.
Reporting restrictions prevented these admissions being made public until the conclusion of the hearing this week.
Court papers show Neville admitted assisting the killers in two ways after last year’s incident – between September 17 and 20 – by transporting them from Carlisle and providing them with accommodation with intent to prevent their arrest or prosecution.
In addition, on September 19 he drove Hull to collect an Audi S3 car for his use.
Another man admits providing Hull with a Skoda and taking away the Audi on September 20. A woman has admitted arranging and booking accommodation for Hull and Porter.
As he sentenced Hull and Porter on Tuesday, Mr Justice Linden said the killing “amounted to an execution”, adding: “You achieved nothing other than to cause misery to the Kirkpatrick family, and to ruin your own lives.”
