FOUR people have been convicted of killing a Southend man.

Kelly King, Ian Slater, Alex Stephens and Stuart Pearson stood trial accused of murdering Courtney Valentine-Brown in King’s flat in Roots Hall Drive, Southend. 

All four had denied his murder, with Stephens, the man who stabbed Mr Valentine-Brown, saying it was self-defence.

King had been talking with her partner, Slater, about getting Mr Valentine-Brown and Solmaz Sevket out of her flat.

READ MORE: The faces of 'ruthless' killers found guilty of murdering man in flat

After being met with resistance, she had asked Slater to help, and he had recruited Stephens and Pearson to go to the flat.

The group had claimed it was an “eviction gone wrong” and they never intended to hurt anyone.

However, after 30 hours of deliberation, a jury of six men and six women found Ian Slater and Alex Stephens guilty of murder.

Kelly King and Stuart Pearson were found not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.

During the trial at Basildon Crown Court, the jury heard evidence from all four defendants, along with medical experts and forensic examinations of the flat.

They also heard evidence from Solmaz Sevket, another person living in the flat, who said she had heard Mr Valentine-Brown screaming when the four were in the flat on February 20 last year.

Kelly King, and shortly afterwards Ian Slater, had come into the bedroom where she was staying telling her to leave. Slater had then become violent and hit her with a pole.

When she fled the flat and waited outside, she saw the four leaving with the weapons.

READ MORE: Family pay tribute to 'cheeky' and 'loveable' Courtney as four found guilty of killing

When giving his evidence, Ian Slater recalled that Stephens, once the four were in the car being driven away from the scene, had said “I think I might have killed him”.

During her evidence, King stated she had tried to get Solmaz and Mr Valentine-Brown to leave the flat in the days leading up to the incident via messages, but she had been met with hostility.

When describing the scene in the flat when the thugs had attack him, she had seen Mr Valentine-Brown bleeding from his head, standing in the lounge holding a chair. She had described him as “a lion tamer holding back a lion”.

It was also revealed King was a drug addict and had been paying the flatmates money for drugs she had got from them.

When the verdict was announced, King became visibly emotional and fought back tears.

Slater showed no emotion, but hung his head. Stephens and Pearson remained stoney faced.

Judge Samantha Leigh thanked the jury for their service and discharged them.

King, 30, of Howards Close, Westcliff, Slater, 49, of Wayletts, Leigh, Pearson, 43, of Satanita Road, Westcliff and Stephens, 36, of Hamlet Court Road in Westcliff, will be sentenced at Basildon Crown Court tomorrow.