GENTRY: WOMAN JAILED FOR VICIOUS ATTACK MOMENTS BEFORE VICTIM WAS MURDERED

An alcoholic who repeatedly battered a vulnerable father moments before he was stabbed to death was jailed for eleven years today (Fri).

Kelly Gentry, 40, kicked and stamped on 41-year-old Carl Everson in a ‘violent, drunk and angry attack’ after inviting him to a birthday party.

Her friend Antoinette Van Dungey, 43, then stabbed him three times in the neck before taking his money and using it to buy drugs.

Van Dungey, who had already served a 42-month prison term for the manslaughter of her husband Kenneth Quy in 2004, was jailed for life at the Old Bailey last month after a jury found her guilty of Mr Everson’s murder.

Gentry, a mother of one, was also charged with murder, but the jury convicted her of the lesser charge of wounding with intent.

Judge Stephen Kramer QC said: ‘You and Miss Van Dungey both attacked Carl Everson in a violent, drunk and angry attack in that one bedroom flat in Barking.

‘What he did to provoke that, we shall never know.

‘But the evidence, particularly scientific, shows you must have stamped on him and taken part to such an extent that he sustained internal bleeding on the brain.

‘You then took part in trying to conceal what had happened.

‘All Mr Everson had ever done was to latch onto you and your group of alcoholics and buy you drinks.’

But he said would not impose an indefinite sentence after hearing of the efforts Gentry had made to tackle her alcohol problem since the attack.

David Spens, defending said: ‘In the year she has spent in custody she couldn’t have done more to address the problems she suffers from that involved her in this offence.’

Judge Kramer told her: ‘If you continue as you have started, the risk to members of the public may well diminish or even be eliminated entirely.’

Mr Everson was ‘living the life of an alcoholic’ despite battling his drink problem with the help of his family, the Old Bailey heard.

He had spent the weeks before his death living with his mother in Norfolk but on October 14 returned to London to see his youngest daughter for her 10th birthday.

On Saturday October 16 he decided to take a nap in a flowerbed behind a bus stop in Bastable Avenue, Barking.

Gentry, a complete stranger, befriended him and persuaded him to spend some of his £300 cash on drink.

During that afternoon he was seen giving money to her, meeting her friend Van Dungey and spending £30 on cans of super strength lager.

He then went back to Van Dungey’s home in (29)Sugden Way, Barking where she was holding a celebration for her birthday.

During that night Mr Everson was beaten, kicked and stamped on so hard that shoe imprints were left on his body.

Police went to the house in the early hours of October 17 after Van Dungey told her father about the attack.

Mr Everson’s money was missing and his bank cards were found in the kitchen.

Just 100 yards away, Van Dungey and Gentry had been ‘laughing and joking’ during a phone call to a friend.

Van Dungey later told doctors that she stabbed Mr Everson to ‘put him out of his misery’ after he was beaten unconscious by Gentry.

Neither woman gave evidence in court but Gentry claimed she had taken no part in the attack.

Van Dungey and Gentry, of Bedford Road, Tottenham, north London, both denied murder.

In a victim impact statement read to the court, the victim’s sister Anita Everson said: ‘Carl was a son, a brother and a father. He was a kind and gentle person who loved football and music.

‘He was happy-go-lucky and was always joking. He was always helping others and on the day he was murdered he was doing just that.

‘Carl’s death has devastated the family. We are heartbroken he has been taken away from us in such a brutal and savage way and we are still trying to come to terms with the devastation it has caused.

‘We have sat in court most days hoping to find out what happened that night. We have been denied this. Instead we are left wondering.

‘They took advantage of Carl’s generosity, stealing his cash and robbing us of a son, father and brother.

‘Carl was vulnerable and unable to defend himself that night and they knew this.’

ends