A MAN who stabbed a former Dundee soldier to death has been jailed for 12 years.
Charles McInally, a former Signal Regiment officer — who moved south from the city as a young man — died after being knifed in the neck at his Birmingham home.
His killer Troy Ktori, 27, went on the run and spent several days living in a tent in a bid to evade capture.
But he was arrested outside a police station four days after the attack on August 7 last year, and was found guilty of manslaughter following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court.
Matthew Roper, 25, and Crystal Jeffries, 30, both of Edgbaston, admitted assisting an offender and were each handed 20-month prison sentences, with Jeffries’ suspended for two years.
On the night he died, Mr McInally met the three men a pub and invited them back to his home. But the atmosphere turned sour shortly after.
Ktori bragged about being a martial arts champion and left Mr McInally’s housemate with a bloodied nose and chipped tooth during a “play fight”.
A scuffle erupted that resulted in Ktori storming out, but he returned 90 minutes later with a knife hidden in the waistband of his jeans.
Ktori lunged at the 31-year-old housemate when he answered the door, leaving him with a cut hand, and chased him through the house before stabbing Mr McInally — who still has family in Dundee — in the throat.
Police and paramedics found him in a pool of blood curled up on a settee. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
Ktori later claimed he had acted in self-defence but the judge concluded that Mr McInally was unarmed at the time he was attacked, while forensics experts proved that charred clothing uncovered in Ktori’s back garden was from a top he wore on the night.
Sergeant Ian Wilkins, from West Midlands Police’s homicide team, said: “Mr McInally was unfortunate to have a chance encounter with the three defendants on that afternoon, and just hours later he was dead.
“Despite the evidence against him the jury found Ktori not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter and the unlawful killing of Charles McInally.
“Mr McInally’s family would like to say that they are understandably devastated by the untimely death of their son and brother.
“Although disappointed by the verdict of the court they now have a degree of closure.”
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