A COCAINE dealer has been jailed for life for murdering a man over a drug debt.
Leon Rushworth stabbed to death Dale Partington, 27, near his home in Snaith.
A jury at Hull Crown Court yesterday unanimously convicted Rushworth, 38, of murder.
Mr Partington was found collapsed outside his home in St Lawrence Avenue, Snaith, by his mother on December 16 last year.
He bled to death after twice being stabbed in the groin.
The victim's mother, Julie Partington, said she has flashbacks to the day she found his body.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, she said: "As I arrived home that morning, after completing a night shift, to find my youngest son, Dale, lying in the passageway to my home, dead in a pool of his own blood, I was plunged into what I describe as a 'Twilight Zone' – an unbelievable and seemingly never-ending numbness.
"Every day, I have flashbacks of Dale lying in that alley.
"Every time I return to my home I see images of that morning.
"Those thoughts will never leave me.
"This incident has caused unbearable devastation to my family.
This man killed my son and he should be locked away for a long time.
"Knife crime should not be tolerated."
Rushworth has been sentenced to life and ordered to serve a minimum term of 20 years in prison before he can be eligible for parole.
James Courier, 24, has been jailed for two and a half years for disposing of the murder weapon in a river.
The trial heard Rushworth had supplied Mr Partington with cocaine in the weeks leading up to the murder and was expecting him to repay the £170 debt.
The pair arranged to meet and Rushworth was armed with a knife.
They fought and Rushworth stabbed Mr Partington twice.
He had claimed throughout his trial that Partington had impaled himself on the knife.
The Honorary Recorder of Hull and the East Riding, Judge Michael Mettyear, said: "You left him, in effect, to die.
"Dale Partington was no angel, one witness described him as a loveable rogue, but he certainly didn't deserve to die.
"This case involved a knife, taken to the scene, to be used if necessary.
"Knife crime cannot be tolerated, as Dale's mother said."
Courier had dumped the knife in the River Aire and the police were able to trace it by tracking his car on CCTV.
Judge Mettyear commended the police officers in the case for their "wonderful" police operation.
Rushworth's partner, Ann Kennedy, will be sentenced at a later date due to illness for perverting the course of justice.
