Lennox Alcendor: Two jailed for rum bottles row murder

Christian Fearon (l) and James Rochester (r) both denied murder

Two men who killed a 42-year-old following a row about two bottles of rum have been jailed for life.

Lennox Alcendor died after he was stabbed in the neck and beaten in Anson Road, north-west London, in February.

James Rochester, 43, of Bromley High Street, and Christian Fearon, 30, of no fixed address, were previously found guilty of his murder.

Rochester was jailed for a minimum of 28 years while Fearon was jailed for at least 24 years at a hearing on Friday.

The Old Bailey had heard Mr Alcendor and a friend went to a flat in Cricklewood on 21 February to buy two bottles of rum from the defendants.

An argument broke out and the 42-year-old victim took the rum without paying, claiming Rochester was in his debt because his ex-girlfriend owed him money.

The two defendants followed and Rochester stabbed Mr Alcendor in the throat with a 28cm (11in) plasterboard saw. The pair then kicked and punched him in the street, the jury was told.

Both men denied murder but were found guilty on 6 November.

Lennox Alcendor was fatally stabbed in Cricklewood in February

In addition to his life sentence, Rochester was also given a four-year sentence having pleaded guilty to robbery and a 10-month sentence for possession of an offensive weapon, to run concurrently.

Fearon was given a four-year sentence having been found guilty of robbery, to run concurrently with his life sentence.

In a victim impact statement, Mr Alcendor's daughter said the 42-year-old's death had "impacted me for the rest of my life" and she had suffered from anxiety and PTSD since.

"Not one day has passed where I don't think of my dad," she added.

Det Insp Tom Williams described the defendants as "dangerous and violent individuals".