Man and woman guilty of murder of vulnerable man

A man and a woman have been found guilty of murdering a vulnerable charity shop volunteer who was stamped to death in his home.

Drug addicts Lee Chugg and Jodie Swannick both kicked and stamped on 60-year-old Stephen Fogg.

The pair denied murder but were found guilty after a trial at Exeter Crown Court.

Judge Peter Johnson told them the only possible sentence for murder was life imprisonment.

The court heard Mr Fogg, who had learning disabilities and autism, worked part time in the Red Cross shop in Plymstock.

Chugg, 42, of Knighton Road, Plymouth, and Swannick, 32, formerly of Stoke Road, Plymouth, but now of no fixed address, had been drinking vodka and taking heroin before they went to his home in Hawthorn Drive, Wembury, on 14 December, the court heard.

They had been hoping to find alcohol or money to steal.

Forensic evidence showed they carried out a joint attack, which left Swannick's shoe print on Mr Fogg's face and Chugg's bloodstained trainer print on the victim's Plymouth Argyle shirt.

The court heard they fled the scene without calling an ambulance and remained at large until police found them hiding out at a house in Plymouth eight days later.

Chugg and Swannick will be sentenced on 27 May at Exeter Crown Court.

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