Man jailed for store guard murder

David Watson was also convicted of wounding a second guard

A 20-year-old man has been jailed for 24 years after being convicted of the murder of a security guard.

Paul Cavanagh, 30, of Rockland St Mary, Norfolk, was stabbed to death on 18 December, 2006, at the HMV store in Chapelfield shopping centre, Norwich.

A jury at Norwich Crown Court found David Watson, of Hackney, east London, guilty of murdering the guard.

Watson, who had denied murder, was also sentenced to four years for the wounding of a second security guard.

The sentences will run concurrently.

Watson had said he stole a CD from HMV as he thought he would get away with it, but he was challenged by Mr Cavanagh.

Paul Cavanagh was stabbed to death on 18 December 2006

The court heard that Watson had a bag with him containing £1,400 worth of hard drugs, and he was worried that if they were discovered, his dealer - to whom he owed money - would blow up his mother's house.

Watson said after he was challenged by Mr Cavanagh he took the knife out to "scare him and escape".

"I did not intend to harm him with it," said Watson.

The two struggled and then fell against the door, he told the court.

"I go to get up and looked down and there was blood everywhere. I do not know what happened," he said.

After the case, chief inspector Roger Wiltshire, of Norfolk Police, said: "This incident was truly awful - a hard-working family man lost his life after what effectively started off as a petty shoplifting."