A CHEF has been jailed for life after being convicted of stabbing to death a 21-year-old plumber outside an Addingham pub.

Loud applause and cheers broke out in the public gallery at Leeds Crown Court yesterday as a jury found Leroy Mckenzie Griffith, 37, of Ridley's Fold, guilty of murdering one-time Addingham resident Mark Webster.

Former Ilkley Grammar School pupil Mr Webster, who lived with his mother in Norwood, Otley, died in the early hours of April 1 this year, after being stabbed through the chest. The court heard he was likely to have died 'within minutes' of the stabbing, which severed one of the main arteries to his heart.

Barbados-born Griffith - who ran his mobile Caribbean Cookshop from a Skipton Road lay-by - was cleared of inflicting actual bodily harm on Addingham residents Adam Renton and Paul Shaw during the incident outside The Fleece, Main Street.

During the trial, which began on December 9, the court was told how the stabbing followed a disagreement between Griffith and Addingham woman Rebecca Holmes. Witnesses who attended a 70s karaoke night in The Fleece late on March 31, told how Mr Webster had 'calmly' tried to talk Griffith into putting down a knife, after seeing him waving it around outside the pub.

Barman Anthony Robertshaw said he saw Griffith's right hand 'punch' Mr Webster in the chest, although he did not notice the knife at the time.

Mr Webster's girl friend of more than two-and-a-half years, Nadia Mitchell, tearfully told the court how she had seen blood immediately come from the wound. Attempts to save Mr Webster by partygoers and by nurse Ernest Hankins, who was at the pub that night, were unsuccessful.

"In my opinion, it had to be deliberate," said Mr Robertshaw.

Several men tried to restrain and disarm Griffith, failing to prise the knife from his fingers. Pub landlord's son, Craig Minto, said he managed to bend the blade by hand, rendering it harmless, although Griffith later tried to straighten it.

Griffith, who had pleaded not guilty to all three charges, repeatedly declared in court that he had no recollection of Mark Webster being stabbed. He maintained that he had himself been assaulted, and dragged from his Suzuki Vitara car by a mob of people, some shouting racial abuse. Griffith claimed he had found the knife on the ground and used it to warn off people, but had intended no harm to anyone.

Griffith's car keys had been removed during the incident by a man, who believed his friend had been stabbed.

Griffith claimed the stabbing may have

happened by accident.

"If I had known that I had done it, I would have said from day one that I had done it," he told the court.

Griffith moved to Addingham in 1999 after meeting wife Sue while she holidayed with friends in Barbados.

Mr Webster's father, Tim, said yesterday that the family was delighted with the guilty verdict.

"A clearly dangerous man has been taken off our streets. His life sentence starts today. Our family's sentence started on Easter Monday with the tragic waste of our 21-year-old son's life, and this will stay with us for the rest of our lives.

"Mark was a fun-loving, gentle young man, who lost his life trying to protect his friends without ever worrying about the dangerous position he had put himself into."

Recommending that Griffith serve at least the minimum life sentence, Judge Peter Charlesworth said to the defendant: "You have been convicted on overwhelming evidence of deliberately and intentionally stabbing a perfectly decent and fine young man. You used a knife which you had brought out of your car to use as a weapon, and you did use it in the most dreadful way."

He offered his sympathies to Mr Webster's family and friends, and to the wider community of Addingham, which he said must have been shocked by the tragedy.

"I have enjoyed many walks in the village. I know the community and I know the place. I wish to express my sympathy and understand that in the fullness of time, this can be put aside and life can move on," said Judge Charlesworth.