A jealous ex has been jailed for stabbing his ex-girlfriend’s new lover to death while he lay in bed.
Kaydon Prior, 23, had also punched his former partner Alicia Parrin while repeatedly stabbing Harrison Tomkins, 25, with a hunting knife.
Both Prior and his accomplice Jason Curtis appeared at Brighton Crown Court on Tuesday and were jailed behind bars for a minimum of 28 and 22 years respectively over the horrific attack.
Ms Parrin told the court she would never recover from the trauma of watching Mr Tomkins die, and said Prior would probably “rejoice at the way he tore my life apart”.
Jurors heard that Ms Parrin and Prior had been in a relationship in which he had been “jealous and controlling”, and had threatened to kill her if she was ever with anyone else.
In July 2023, she got her own flat in a bid to escape his clutches, but he refused to believe the relationship was over.
On August 13 last year, the two killers had been in Chelsea, London, to celebrate Curtis’ birthday, but returned to Crawley at around 1.30am.
During this period they discovered Prior’s ex-girlfriend was in the city center with Tomkins, and the two were then seen on CCTV outside the Medusa cocktail bar at around 3am looking for her.
The duo then took a taxi to her flat on Arthur Road and gained access to the communal area, where they heard her and Mr Tomkins in her property.
This prompted Prior to call a taxi to return to his home address to collect the key to his ex-girlfriend’s flat to carry out the attack, while Curtis stayed behind to keep watch.
At 5.30am the pair burst into her flat and stabbed defenseless lifeguard Mr Tomkins several times as he lay in bed.
Jurors heard how Prior dropped the knife in the bedroom, punched Ms Parrin and walked out of the building where he rejoined Curtis and told him to burn his clothes while they escaped.
The police were called and a major search took place, with Prior arrested at his home address and Curtis found hiding in bushes nearby. When he was arrested, he told officers, “Who was killed? I went out for the night because it’s my birthday.”
Judge Jeremy Gold QC said Curtis “played a full role” in the lead-up to this “terrible crime” by assisting Prior.
The court heard how Ms Parrin sent messages to Prior the day before the murder saying: “Go f*ck, don’t ever contact me again” but he still believed they were in a relationship.
Ms Parrin and Mr Tomkins had met working at the K2 leisure center and things had become more ‘flirty’ between them in the weeks leading up to August 12, when the pair decided to meet at a colleague’s departure point.
They were spotted at a pub and club in Crawley town center by a mutual connection, Ella Stanford, who messaged Curtis on Snapchat saying Ms Parrin was out with friends.
Curtis replied: “Kaydon says we should watch her and see what she does.”
Jurors heard that Prior had also been shown a video of Ms Parrin kissing another man at a club that night, and he sent her a message saying: “Letting boys kiss you and that… that is absolutely wrong… I can literally see you.”
During his trial, Prior claimed he went to Ms Parrin’s flat because he “didn’t like to sleep in a fight” before a fight broke out between him and Mr Tomkins, with both reaching for the knife.
However, Ms Parrin said Prior was the instigator and she had not realized he was repeatedly stabbing his victim until she saw there was blood everywhere.
She said: ‘I used to use sleep as a way to get out of scary situations. As soon as I close my eyes, I see him enter my room and do the unthinkable again.”
Despite denying the murder charges, they were both found guilty at the end of a four-week trial.
Sentencing the pair, Judge Gold said: “This was a carefully planned and executed murder of a young man neither of you knew or had any reasonable reason for wanting to harm, let alone kill.
“This brutal murder was born out of a total obsession of yours, Kaydon Prior, with Alicia Parrin. She was understandably exhausted by your increasingly forceful and controlling behavior over the last few weeks of your relationship.
“She has made it clear to you that she will no longer tolerate it, you could not and would not accept that simple fact.”
In a statement, Mr Tomkins’ family said: “Harrison was innocent in all this, surprised and killed as he lay in bed, with no time to defend himself.
“We knew our son and he did not belong to these circles and did not know this way of life.
“We were a wonderful family, completely content, loving, supportive and protective. Except last August, our family was destroyed on that fateful day – the day I failed to protect my son.
“Harrison, our firstborn son and brother to his two adoring sisters, was simply the best, he saw the best in everyone he met. He was a lover of life.
“Nothing said or done can help justify this senseless loss of life.
Case Officer Detective Police Constable Elliott Lander, from the Major Crime Team, said: “I am pleased that we have been able to get the justice that Harrison richly deserves today.
“I never met Harrison, but I learned so much about him and saw how deeply loved he was by all who knew him.
‘Harrison was killed in a frenzied attack from which he had no chance of defending himself. Prior and Curtis will now both rightly have to live a significant period of their lives in prison with the devastating consequences of their actions.
“On behalf of Harrison and all his family and friends, I would like to thank those who came forward and supported our investigation.”