Two half-brothers were today jailed for up to 15 years for their part in a violent burglary which led to the death of a Tooting pensioner last year.
Stewart Palmer, 29, of Kew Bridge Road, Brentford and Jason Lewin, 34, of Glenthorpe Road, Morden, were cleared of murdering 75-year-old Peter Lee on Wednesday but found guilty of aggravated burglary with intent to cause grievous bodily harm at the Old Bailey.
Jailing the pair today, Judge John Bevan said the brothers had been "bent on violence" on the day of Mr Lee's death.
Lewin was jailed for 15 years and Palmer was locked up for 10 for their role in the violence that led to the pensioner being mowed down in front of his Welham Road home by a Volkswagen Sharan driven by a third brother, Jonathan Palmer, of Carshalton.
The 30-year-old, of Green Wrythe Lane, took his own life in HMP Wandsworth while awaiting trial for murder.
Peter Lee, 75, died after being run over outside of his Tooting home
The court heard a train of events that led to Mr Lee's death began in 2013 when Lewin was robbed at his cannabis factory in Sutton.
He was found by police injured in the street after three men broke into the factory, beat him up and stole what is believed to be either £14,000 or £40,000 worth of cannabis.
He was sent to prison for two years after pleading guilty to cultivating cannabis.
Prosecutor Alan Kent told the court Lewin was intent on "restitution or revenge, or even both" on the man he and his brothers thought was responsible - Rober Palmer, Stuart Palmer's father.
On May 30, 2015, Lewin, along with Jonathan Palmer, attempted to break into a flat in Farnham Court, Cheam, armed with knives – one of which was “pushed through the letterbox” – demanding £2,000 from a man associated with one of the occupants.
Wandsworth Prison, where Jonathan Palmer took his own life
Judge Bevan said: "I so find you travelled with Jonathan Palmer as a team bent on violence, drugged and armed, and in my judgment [there is a] continuing risk of further such violence.”
On June 1, 2015, the three brothers drove to the home of their former stepmother, who had previously been married to Robert Palmer, after hearing his car had been spotted outside the house in Lessingham Avenue, Tooting.
Lewin and Jonathan Palmer tried to enter the house armed with a knife and an iron bat, making threats to kill, while Stuart Palmer remained in the car.
They failed to gain access to the house and later learned Robert Palmer was in Thailand at the time.
Later that day, the three brothers drove to the home Mr Lee shared with his two sons, Danny and Terry Lee in Welham Road, Tooting.
The men broke into the house armed with knives and fought with Mr Lee’s sons in a brawl in which Lewin was held under the water of a garden pond.
Forensics spent hours in Welham Road investigating Mr Lee's death
In his sentencing, Judge Bevan told Stuart Palmer: “Your drug problem led to this offence, and you were only present because you were a contact for gaining drugs.”
Lewin, described by the judge as a "dangerous offender," will serve a further five years on licence following the end of his jail term.
The brothers trial was delayed after Jonathan Palmer took his own life in Wandsworth prison, where he and his brother shared a cell, in November last year, shortly before it was due to begin.
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