The family of a father and son who stabbed a thief in an act of "vigilante violence" have vowed to overturn their murder convictions, insisting: "They're not monsters."
David King, 56, and his son Edward King, 20, were jailed for a total of 40 years after grabbing a 2ft ninja sword and a World War II dagger to confront thief Neil Charles.
Mr Charles, 47, died in hospital after being stabbed with the dagger and sliced across the knee by the sword.
Prosecutors said it was an act of "violence meted out by this father and son team who were fired by anger and seeking retribution".
And jailing the pair for a total of four decades, Judge Martyn Levett claimed the pair had "wanted to hunt down the offender and punish him with violence".
But now David's wife, domestic cleaner Heather, 50, has broken her silence to claim they are not "vigilantes".
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mirror, she:
- revealed thieves had repeatedly targeted their £550,000 home, saying thugs even stole four wheels from her £30,000 BMW and left it propped up on wooden blocks
- *dismissed allegations Edward and David were "murderers" who had an obsession with knives - instead saying they had left their home in the early hours to make a citizen's arrest;*alleged "terrified" David had used the knife to defend himself after confronting Mr Charles - revealing he called an ambulance 38 seconds after the fatal blow
- *told how she visited the pair in HMP Norwich and they had been made Cat C prisoners despite their murder conviction
- *said they were appealing the sentence and refused to accept the pair had murdered Mr Charles, branding it a "miscarriage of justice".
Heather said: "They never meant to cause Mr Charles any harm, they wanted to scare him off.
"They're not monsters or killers or vigilantes, we're just normal homeowners, a hardworking family.
"You see someone trying to take something you've tried to work towards for your whole life, in that situation I'd love to ask anyone what they would do in that flash of a moment.
"Especially when you know if you ring the police they won't turn up. It's been a living nightmare, I wish my days away."
David and Edward were convicted of murder by acting in a joint enterprise following a trial and received life terms.
David, a project manager in the construction industry, was ordered to serve a minimum 21 years and Edward at least 19 years before being considered for parole.
The court was told two minutes after going outside their home in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, to deliver their "own form of justice", Charles had sustained fatal injuries.
But Heather - who has been married to David for 30 years after meeting on a night out in a pub - said: "They were trying to do the right thing. They're not vigilantes, they're not monsters."
For more than 40 years David worked long hours as a director at multi-million pound companies to support his family.
Meanwhile Edward had worked hard - starting at 5am to work in Tesco before an evening shift at Wetherspoons - to save for his beloved £5,000 Renault.
But he's now due to celebrate his 21st birthday in jail as he begins a 19-year sentence.
Heather, who lives with his eldest son, Henry, 22, a business management student at University of East Anglia, said: "My husband is 56 - he's had a long successful career and so to be stuck in a cell is awful.
"There are terrible staff shortages so sometimes he's in his cell for 22 hours a day. For him, mentally, it's really hard. It hasn't really sunk in."
Heather claims in the run-up to Mr Charles' death, their Moreton Hall estate had been plagued with crime.
She said: "Two to three prior to the incident there was a lot of crime happening.
"You could guarantee every other week on the local Facebook group there would be people saying thieves were caught on camera. There was a lot of that, neighbours reporting incidents to the police.
"I woke up one morning and all four wheels on my car had gone. First thing I did was report it but the police didn't even come out. They had propped it up on wooden blocks.
"It was so close to our kitchen window, so close to our front door. It was a horrible feeling. I know we hadn't been burgled but it felt like they had been in the house.
"We put a camera up on the front and the boys cycled all around the estate telling people who had nice cars. It makes you feel unsettled, you don't know what they are going to do next."
She added: "Some people in the area wanted to set up a patrol group in the area because they were so scared and let down by the police.
"We didn't want to leave - we liked the area and we'd lived here for so long - but people were getting fed up with it because it was continuous.
"We didn't want to be pushed out of our home because of it."
During their trial, the prosecution said this indicated their desire for "retribution".
Charles, 47, who had 66 previous convictions, turned up at the estate shortly before 1am on June 20, 2021, and was spotted on CCTV trying the doors of the Kings’ cars.
A neighbour put a message on the WhatsApp group at 1.14am saying someone had tried the door on his car and David King wrote: "Snap. Just been out looking for him."
Two hours later, Charles again tried the handle of a car on the Kings’ driveway outside their detached house and the defendants rushed outside to confront him.
Charles was left with a 5in-deep wound to his chest and the injury to his knee.
Heather said: "The trial was awful. It was hard to listen to because we know who they are - they are not the monsters or vigilantes they were being made out to be.
"They didn't want to cause any harm whatsoever, they wanted to scare him away or apprehend him.
"He had too much to lose, to risk anything. Edward left slightly before David. What father would leave his son out there on his own?
"He left to try to find Ed but they went in different directions. David saw Mr Charles' bike on the pavement - he thought it was Edward lying on the pavement.
"He asked Mr Charles what he was doing. He came over and said, 'Have you got a light mate?' But David was trying to deter him, he said, 'I know what you're doing, I've called the police'.
"Mr Charles came towards him and threw his bike into him and rammed it into David.
"David was frozen to the spot, he was terrified. Mr Charles came towards him again. That's when it happened - but David didn't want confrontation.
"Why would you tell someone you had called the police if you were intending to hurt someone?
"We couldn't believe the guilty verdict, I don't think anyone could believe it. It was self defence.
"David phoned for the police and ambulance within 38 seconds. David didn't know he'd injured him, he didn't know what had happened."
David and Edward are now in HMP Norwich where they are classified as category C prisoners despite their murder convictions.
Heather and Henry make weekly trips to visit them.
She said: "I look forward to seeing them but it's not a nice place to visit them. I count down to seeing them. Then you have to walk away and leave them.
"The only thing that helps is David and Edward are together in the same prison. It's my only comfort, at least they've got each other.
"Visiting is horrendous, I just cried my eyes out on the first visit. It's emotionally draining. I never thought I'd see my husband in that position."
Heather also claims the sentences were too harsh. She said: "There have been cases where people have been stabbed 17 times and they only got 19 years. The sentence for David and Edward is way too harsh.
"When they read them out I was numb. David will be an old man, he'll be 76. Edward will be hitting 40. I just can't believe what's happened.
"It's devastating. I wonder if I will still be alive when they both get out. Edward loved the dog, Oscar, and he will never see him again.
"We just can't understand the verdicts and we will appeal. There has been a miscarriage of justice."
A spokesman for Suffolk Police said: "Analytical work presented during the trial stated over a two-year period between June 1 2019 and July 21, there were 88 recorded offences of vehicle crime; business burglaries & residential burglaries (including attempted crimes).
"There was only one recorded crime at the Kings during this period, which was the theft of the car wheels.
"Many of these offences would have been committed overnight with very limited opportunities to solve them.
"Given the time period and the presence of the industrial estate, where many offences were business crimes, the numbers could easily be skewed to paint a false picture.
"Moreton Hall is a pleasant area of Bury St Edmunds which, as a town, is a very desirable place to live.
"The facts of the case remain an unarmed thief - who was leaving the estate on his bike - was killed by men armed with a special forces dagger and a 27 inch ninja sword.
"This followed a 20-minute search/hunt for him only a couple of hours or so earlier. On that estate you can cover a lot of ground in that time.
"A jury convicted both David and Edward King of murder based on all the facts of the case.
"They rejected - beyond reasonable doubt - the extensive evidence of David King, who denied murder. The judge was scathing of the Kings’ actions in his sentencing remarks."
