Killers face life for murdering Carlisle's Lee McKnight

It took a jury just over 27 hours to deliver their verdicts, arrived at after a seven week trial that heard disturbing evidence of the violence and horror that is a part of the city’s dangerous drugs underworld.

The News & Star can reveal shocking evidence of the contempt some defendants showed for the court as they used foul language in one video hearing and complained about having to wait for a judge.

All now face life sentences (See our explanation of what this may mean at the end of this story).

The jury delivered unanimous guilty verdicts on four of the six defendants, who included a mother and her daughter and a father and his son. All denied responsibility, and blamed each other.

The guilty are:

* Jamie Davison, 26, of Beverley Rise, Harraby, convicted unanimously.

* Arron Graham, 26, of Blackwell Road, Currock, convicted unanimously.

* Jamie Lee Roberts, 18, of Grey Street, Carlisle, convicted unanimously.

* Coral Edgar, 26, of Charles Street, Carlisle, convicted unanimously.

* Her mother Carol Edgar, 47, of Charles Street, convicted by a majority 10-2 decision.

* And Jamie Lee’s father Paul Roberts, 51, also from Grey Street, Carlisle. Like Carol Edgar, he was convicted by a majority 10-2 majority verdict. 

Just how little respect three of the defendants had for the courts was revealed starkly during a Crown Court video link hearing last September.

Graham, in a prison-issue orange T-shirt, was seen visiting Davison’s custody video booth at HMP Durham, the pair casually chatting in the doorway. They were laughing and sniggering as was Roberts junior at the young offenders’ institution in Wetherby.

Murder plot ringleader Davison – wearing a dark polo shirt and black tracksuit bottoms – casually vaped in his video booth as he rested his foot on a table.

Prosecutor Tim Evans became so exasperated by the crude conduct that he asked the court listing officer: “Will you either mute the defendants or tell them their behaviour in a courtroom is unacceptable, please?”

Yet youth Roberts – who twice vaulted over a table in his custody video – continued to lark around. He flippantly told his dad, Roberts senior, in a video booth at Durham Prison: “Dad, stop complaining.”

In recent weeks, Carlisle Crown Court has heard distressing details about how Mr McKnight, who was selling cannabis and cocaine to contacts, crossed “middle-man” dealer Davison.

Mr McKnight was in debt to Davison, whose annual drug-dealing turnover was said to be £500,000. Yet 26-year-old Davison was himself under pressure from higher-level suppliers, the court heard.

That was why he pursued Mr McKnight, having him lured to the Charles Street home of Coral Edgar, where he was beaten to the “point of death” before then being “dumped” in the River Caldew south of Carlisle.

Mr McKnight - increasingly fearful of Davison - went into hiding. But on the morning of July 24 last year, he was “lured” to the Charles Street home of Coral Edgar and subjected to two hours of horrific violence.

He suffered 36 cuts to the head alone, as well as numerous broken bones that included a skull fracture, broken neck bone and multiple rib fractures – injuries so severe he looked like a “torture victim”.

A post-mortem revealed that though he was gravely injured when his attackers threw him - face down - into the River Caldew, he was still breathing. He drowned.

Davison had organised the violence, recruiting Graham and Jamie Lee Roberts as “extra muscle”.

Coral Edgar was the “lure” while Carol Edgar helped by lending the killers her Nissan Navara pickup truck.

Paul Roberts admitted helping his son Jamie Lee Roberts, taking him fresh clothes after the attack and destroying blood-stained clothes. He claimed he tried to help Mr McKnight when he saw how badly injured he was.

“There was plenty of time to do that if anybody had cared at all for Lee but none of them did the decent thing,” said prosecutor Tim Cray QC.

What the law says about sentencing convicted murderers.

All six defendants were remanded in custody and will be sentenced on a date yet to be fixed. Though they will be jailed for life, the judge will determine the minimum period they will have to spend behind bars before they are eligible for parole.

Official guidance on the sentencing of people convicted of murder states: "The judge must impose a life sentence and follow guidance on the minimum amount of time the offender must be in prison before being considered for release (this is sometimes referred to as the tariff."

The minimum prison term will depend on the facts of the offence.

Life sentences for murder for an adult usually range from 15 to 30 years. For an offender under 18 the starting point is 12 years. You can find a more detailed explanation for how life sentences are determined here.