Brackley murder: Drug dealer jailed for stealing cash, drugs from flat

Simon Atherton took thousands of pounds worth of cash, cocaine, pills and a TV from the Old Town flat where Augustus ‘Gus’ Davies, 23, was stabbed to death in June last year, the court heard today (Tuesday, January 8).

At Northampton Crown Court, Judge Adrienne Lucking said: “A substantial quantity of drugs were removed along with a substantial quantity of cash and you cynically took advantage of an extremely violent attack on the owner of the drugs and cash.”

Atherton, 42, had gone to the flat with Robert Field, who has pleaded guilty to the murder, and another man in search of Mr Davies a couple of days after the stabbing.

Wearing a balaclava and holding a truncheon, Atherton went inside and found a room covered in blood with £4,000 to £5,000 in cash and an estimated £20,000 in drugs lying on the side.

Atherton, who lived in an unofficial encampment near St James Lake with his partner Amanda Butler, 40, took a quantity of drugs and money from the flat, which they used to stay in hotels, buy a car and watches.

They were eventually arrested at a Northampton hotel and tried to flush drugs down the toilet, the prosecution lawyer said.

The pair were originally charged with Mr Davies’ murder before the charges were dropped in October.

Atherton pleaded guilty to multiple counts of concealing criminal property and possessing drugs, while Butler pleaded guilty to one charge of concealing criminal property.

Atherton was sentenced to a total of six years in jail - his sentence took into account a long history of offending including breaching a suspended jail term for assault.

Butler was sentenced to three months in jail but was released having already spent 191 days in custody on remand.

Yesterday (Monday), Field, 22, of Old Town, Brackley, pleaded guilty to the murder of Mr Davies on June 25, 2018. His sentencing hearing date has not yet been set.