A WORCESTER man has been jailed for life for murdering a father-to-be.

Robert Lainsbury, 25, from Worcester, and two other men, were found guilty of stabbing 29-year-old Lynford Brewster to death at a retrial in Bristol Crown Court last week.

Their convictions were previously quashed because a detective tried to hide the fact a jury member in their trial was her son's girlfriend.

Jake Whelan, 28, Dwayne Edgar, 31, and Lainsbury were previously jailed in December 2016 after being convicted of Mr Brewster's murder.

Those convictions were quashed in July last year by the Court of Appeal and a retrial ordered after it emerged Detective Constable Rebecca Bryant had lied about her relationship to juror Laura Jones, and sent texts telling her "don't tell anyone who you are" during the first trial.

The officer's relationship to Miss Jones, a teaching assistant, was eventually discovered just weeks after the three men were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Mr Brewster suffered multiple stab wounds on the night of June 12 2016 on a housing estate in Llanedeyrn, Cardiff.

That afternoon, Mr Brewster left his home to collect some money he was owed and later rang his partner to say he would be home soon.

The court heard that ringleader Whelan plotted to kill the father-to-be after "an altercation" earlier that day.

He drove to the Midlands to collect Lainsbury and brought him back to South Wales, where they met Edgar.

Armed with knives, including a large combat knife, they went to look for Mr Brewster before chasing him and repeatedly stabbing him.

Mr Brewster, who was lying on a footpath between the back gardens of two rows of houses in Brynfedw, was "totally unresponsive" when the emergency services arrived, having been stabbed three times.

His partner only found out she was pregnant after he died and their daughter is now aged two, the court heard.

Barristers representing the defendants did not offer any personal mitigation and Lainsbury did not attend court for sentencing.

Passing life sentences, Mr Justice Morris said: "I find there was a significant degree of planning and premeditation on the part of all three of you.

"All three of you set out to find Lynford Brewster and all three of you were dressed in black hoodies and at least two had armed themselves with knives.

"When you found Mr Brewster, all three of you chased him, where he was stabbed in the back and the back of the legs on more than one occasion.

"Whatever had happened in the morning or at the beginning of the incident before the chase provides no excuse or mitigation for then what happened.

"On the evidence, I cannot be sure which one of you inflicted the fatal injury. In any event I am satisfied that each of you was a willing and knowing participant in the plan to find and attack Lynford Brewster with knives and you bear equal responsibility for the stabbing."

The judge added: "This was a brazen, vicious and brutal attack by the three of you, hunting down an unarmed man who was running away from you.

"At no stage has any of you shown any remorse for what you have done nor for the enduring misery you have caused to others."

Whelan, of no fixed address, was given a 28-year minimum term; Lainsbury, of Ombersley Road, Worcester, 26 years' jail; and Edgar, of Lincoln Court, Llanedeyrn, Cardiff, was told he would serve a minimum 25 years' imprisonment.