A man who killed a pubgoer with a kitchen knife after a bar brawl has been jailed for 20 years.
Reece Hussain, 22, of no fixed abode, was sentenced at the Old Bailey this morning for the manslaughter of 29-year-old Edward Stokes, who he stabbed twice in a Plaistow pub before stabbing and wounding two other people.
Judge Paul Worsley said Hussain, who knifed the three men at the Army Navy Public House in New Barn Street in the early hours of March 19, had destroyed the Stokes family with his actions.
Judge Worsley explained that Hussain, who was charged with but denied murder, had been involved in an earlier brawl between two other men, Billy Williams and Bernard McDonagh, before the fatal stabbing.
Mr Stokes, his family and friends were still celebrating St Patrick’s Day in the pub when Mr McDonagh spotted Billy Williams, a man he had previously had dealings with.
A fight followed but soon ceased. In CCTV of the fight, Hussain can be clearly seen wielding a “large kitchen knife”, the judge said.
At this stage Hussain – after the departure of Mr Williams – went into the saloon bar, still holding his knife, and “calmly” collected his drinks while speaking to Mr Stokes. He then stabbed Mr Stokes twice, leaving an eight-inch wound to his stomach before leaving, but stabbed both Bernard McDonagh and Dylan McDonagh before disposing of the knife and fleeing.
Charges against another man, George Forde, were dropped on November 2 due to a lack of evidence.
