Man Jailed For Over 13 Years For Killing Father

A man has been jailed after pleading guilty to killing his father, police have revealed.

David West Jnr, 45, of Jermyn Street, was jailed for 13-and-a-half years after he stabbed his 70-year-old father, David West Snr.

It is understood David West Jnr attacked his father as he lay drunk outside his home.

Police were called after 6pm following reports that a man had been discovered dead at an address in Ormond Yard on 12 December 2014.

Emergency services found the body of nightclub owner David West, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

A post-mortem examination cited the cause of death as a single stab wound.

Investigating detectives found that West and his father had spent much of the afternoon on 12 December arguing about the family business, resulting in West Snr sacking his son.

He also demanded that he remove himself from a flat above his restaurant, the Abracadabra, in Piccadilly.

Just before 4pm, West Jnr left the restaurant and returned to the flat while his father continued to drink.

Almost an hour later, West returned to the bar area and confronted West Snr, before throwing a stool at a mirror and storming out.

At 5:55pm, West Jnr, who possessed a knife, entered the bar and retrieved keys to his father's flat.

He then came back less than three minutes later and said to a colleague "call the police, I've killed my dad" before dialling 999 himself.

Det Insp Simon Pickford said: "The relationship between father and son was a volatile one which resulted in a number of arguments about the victim's business and financial affairs.

"West claimed that he lost control due to his father's overbearing behaviour and that by killing him, he 'did a favour to a lot of people'. It is clear that he let himself into his father's flat whilst armed with a knife that he had selected from his kitchen.

"He stabbed his father, who had been drinking, twice in the upper body and neck, whilst he was lying in a vulnerable state at the foot of his stairs."

(LM/CD)