by Keith Hunt

A thug who killed a cousin in a knife and hammer attack has been jailed for life after being found guilty of murder today.

Robert Bygrave, pictured left, stood silent in the dock as a judge told him: "I assess you to be dangerous, unpredictable and volatile, particularly when under the influence of drink and drugs."

The 32-year-old, of Terrace Road, Sittingbourne, denied murdering Steven Bygrave, pictured below, but was convicted on a unanimous verdict.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the 36-year-old victim named Bygrave as his attacker as he lay dying on the floor of his home in Oak Road, Murston, in June last year.

He suffered fatal wounds to his heart and lung.

Bygrave, described as a known knife-carrier, had recently started a relationship with Steven's ex-girlfriend Samantha Windeatt.

But the prosecution told the jury it was Robert Bygrave who was jealous and feelings had been running high.

He claimed he lashed out with a knife when his cousin encouraged a Staffordshire bull terrier he was looking after tried to bite him.

Judge Jeremy Carey told Bygrave: "Your obvious intent in my judgement was to kill him, as shown by your conduct generally and also by your callous failure to call an ambulance or alert anyone to help him after what you had done.

"You thought only of yourself when you tried to cover your tracks after the killing. Your silence as to what happened is telling.

"The end result is in murdering someone who had done you no harm, someone who was a close blood relative, your father's brother's son, you have deprived two sons of a father and four siblings of a much loved brother.

"As your counsel properly recognised, your actions have had absolutely disastrous results for this family."