UPDATED WITH SENTENCE: Man convicted of murdering Shane Thompson

UPDATE: Robert Goodwin was today (6 April 2023) sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 22 years.

This press release was originally issued on 8 February 2023.

A man has been convicted of murdering his friend in a frenzied knife attack.

Robert Goodwin, 32, of Birmingham, was found guilty today (8 February 2023) of the murder of 32-year-old Shane Thompson following a trial that lasted two weeks.

Shane Thompson suffered multiple stab wounds when he was fatally stabbed by Robert Goodwin during the evening of 4 December 2021.

The court heard that both men had spent the day together at work before heading to the pub after work and then the home of Mr Thompson’s girlfriend.

At some point during the evening, Goodwin mercilessly attacked Mr Thompson who fled and ran up the stairs to escape him. However, Goodwin chased him with a knife, stabbing him in the back, chest, and abdomen before fleeing the scene in Mr Thompson’s car, leaving him dying on the bed.

Mr Thompson’s body was discovered by his girlfriend who returned home later that evening to find him collapsed on her bed in a pool of blood.

Robert Goodwin was seen some hours later in a dishevelled, injured state by a member of the public and an off-duty police officer took him to hospital and alerted the police.

Goodwin admitted killing Shane Thompson but denied murder and the CPS proceeded to trial.

Emily Clewer of the CPS said: “Shane Thompson’s life was tragically cut short by someone he trusted and who betrayed that trust in the worst possible way. Robert Goodwin had just been released from prison just days before the murder and Mr Thompson offered him a source of employment, and this kindness ended up costing Mr Thompson his life.

“While we may never know the motive behind this needless crime, I welcome today’s guilty verdict which will ensure that a dangerous man is held accountable for his crime. I know that no outcome can replace the terrible loss that Mr Thompson’s family have suffered but I hope it brings them a small measure of comfort that justice has been served.”

He will be sentenced on 4 April 2023.