Man jailed for 15 years for guest house murder

A man has been jailed for a minimum of 15 years for murdering another man in a guest house where they were both staying.

Stephen Povey, 37, died after he was attacked at the property on Norwich Road, Ipswich, on 9 July last year.

Warren Atkinson, 41, from the town, was convicted of murder after a nine-week trial at Ipswich Crown Court.

The judge gave the minimum term as part of the mandatory life sentence for murder.

Suffolk Police said officers were called to the address after the ambulance service reported that a man had serious injuries inside the property.

Mr Povey was found unconscious in a kitchenette on the top floor of the building, with significant facial injuries, police said.

He was lying on his back on the floor with a "substantially sized" wooden coffee table on top of him.

Mr Povey was treated by paramedics but died at the scene, police said.

A post-mortem examination found he had multiple areas of blunt force trauma to the head and neck.

Police seized Atkinson's clothes when he was arrested and his hooded top, T-shirt, shorts and trainers were all found to have Mr Povey’s blood on them.

Atkinson claimed he acted in self-defence but a jury unanimously found him guilty.

Sentencing him, Judge Martyn Levett said murder did not just take one life "but blights the lives of many”.

"No sentence I can pass will restore Stephen’s life back to his family," he added.

After the sentencing, Mr Povey's father David said his son was murdered "with little or no provocation whatsoever".

"For what reason he [Atkinson] did what he did, only he knows that, but now he's been sentenced to prison, he's got plenty of time to come to terms with what he did," he added.

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