Overview
- David Lane, 48, received an 11½-year sentence at Birmingham Crown Court on February 9 following a manslaughter conviction.
- The court heard he strangled 58-year-old Paul Wilkins for several minutes outside a Doseley address as Wilkins said he could not breathe, breaking four bones in his neck.
- Lane was initially stabbed in the leg, but prosecutors said he then used unreasonable force and maintained the choke after Wilkins lost consciousness.
- Emergency crews arrived within 10 minutes to find Lane still on top of Wilkins; Wilkins suffered hypoxic brain injury, was declared brain-dead, and died on April 10, 2022.
- Police welcomed the sentence after a three-year investigation, and Wilkins’s daughter gave a moving victim impact statement in court.