A 22-year-old man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for the manslaughter of a father-of-two from Great Yarmouth

Tevin Birmingham, of William Kett Close, Norwich, was found guilty by a jury at Norwich Crown Court in June for the manslaughter of 33-year-old Andrew McGowan.

He was today sentenced to 15 years in prison, of which he will serve a minimum of 10 years. Birmingham was also ordered to serve a further five years on licence.

His co-defendant Warren Blake, 18, who was convicted of murder was sentenced in June to life-imprisonment and ordered to serve a minimum of 17 years.

It follows an incident on November 14 last year when Blake and Birmingham were involved in a heated confrontation with Mr McGowan over drugs which ended with the victim being stabbed five times at a flat in Dickens Court.

During the investigation detectives established that Mr McGowan went to the flat armed with a hammer with the intention of stealing drugs from Blake and Birmingham.

He arrived at around 10.15pm and the group was involved in a short disturbance, heard by neighbours, which ended with Mr McGowan being stabbed.

Police and paramedics attended and made attempts to resuscitate Mr McGowan but he was sadly pronounced dead at the scene shortly after 10.30pm having suffered a fatal wound to the heart.

Blake and Birmingham had already fled the scene headed to Norwich before travelling to London the following day, where they were eventually traced by officers in Norfolk and arrested 10 days later on November 24.

The pair were arrested by MET officers and brought to Norfolk for questioning where they both later charged with murder and supplying a Class A drug.

Blake, of Thorncliffe Road, in South London, denied murder but admitted the drug charge and was given a life-term with a minimum of 17 years in detention.

Birmingham also denied murder but was found guilty of manslaughter. He also admitted drug supply for which he was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment to run concurrent.

Detective Chief Inspector Tracey Little, from the Norfolk and Suffolk Major Investigation Team (MIT), who led the enquiry, welcomed the sentence.

She said: 'This case exemplifies drug-related violence at its most serious: a man has lost his life as a result of a situation which needn't have escalated to this level.

'I accept that Mr McGowan had his own criminal motives when he attended the flat that night. However, this does not justify the outcome in any way.

'Organised, drug-related violence is something we take very seriously and we will continue to work closely colleagues across the region to eradicate it.'