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Joss Stone’s Would-Be Killers Convicted in Botched Beheading Plot

Joss Stone Murder Beheading Plot Convicted Kevin Liverpool Junior Bradshaw

The two men who’d plotted to rob, kill, and behead English soul singer Joss Stone have been found guilty. Kevin Liverpool, 35, is being sent away for life (with a minimum of 10 years and 8 months) and Junior Bradshaw’s sentencing is yet to be determined, though is expected to be less severe. The evidence was overwhelmingly against the defendants, who like the bumbling would-be Bieber-castrators before them, totally botched the job.

The pair were arrested in June of 2011 near Stone’s country home in Devon after a series of events derailed their plans. After having set out from their shared Manchester flat at 2 a.m., they stopped for gas at dawn. Upon leaving, they not only failed to pay but wound up bouncing off of a guard rail and smashing into a construction vehicle. The police came but didn’t detain the men as their Fiat Punto appeared to be non-operational.

But Liverpool and Bradshaw made it back onto the road only to get lost in the confusing streets leading to the artist’s house. They showed a postal worker a picture of Stone in hopes that he would help, but he didn’t. Complaints from residents soon came in about the “agitated” duo and a patrol car stopped the Fiat, finding it full of foreboding items: a samurai sword, hammers, body bags, tape, and balaclavas amongst other things.

Additionally, a search of their apartment revealed a crossbow and various incriminating notes, some of which appear to have resembled to-do list items: “Once Jocelyn’s dead … find a river to dump her.” Jocelyn Eve Stoker is the birth name of their target, who seemed to be singled out because of her connection to the royal family. Oddly, one piece of paper read, “Invited to Will’s wedding by Queen. Where’s the sense in that?”

After a three-week trial, it took the jury all of four hours to reach a unanimous decision, says the Guardian. Stone confirmed that she had indeed been home on the day of the arrest, and that she’d neither locked her doors nor set an alarm. In response to the verdict, she released a strikingly calm statement: “I am relieved the trial is now over and that these men are no longer in a position to cause harm to anyone.”