Lee Crewe murder: David Sisman learns fate for stabbing unarmed victim with 'Rambo-style knife'

A killer who drove a "large, Rambo-style knife" into the chest of an unarmed man will serve a minimum of 24 years behind bars. David Sisman, 21, stabbed unarmed Lee Crewe, 36, in Newportin broad daylight.

The murder occurred shortly before 6pm on May 14 in Chepstow Road, Maindee, when Mr Crewe was attacked by Sisman. The defendant admitted that he fatally knifed Mr Crewe – and that at the time he was selling drugs and carrying a knife in public – but he pleaded not guilty to murder on the basis of self-defence.

Sisman, who had a steady wage from working for his family business and only began dealing drugs a month before the killing, claimed he was protecting himself from Mr Crewe who was "a roiling cauldron of boastful fury", argued his barrister Tom Crowther KC. But a Newport Crown Court jury was unanimous in finding Sisman guilty of murder. During the trial prosecutor Mark Cotter KC accepted that Mr Crewe "may have been verbally unpleasant" when he approached Sisman in the street.

The prosecutor said that even if Mr Crewe was "a bit drunk and being a bit aggressive because he wants to get his hands on some crack cocaine and he can't pay for it" there was nothing to suggest he physically threatened Sisman. Mr Cotter described the victim as "an unarmed and intoxicated man who was retreating". He questioned Sisman's decision not to give evidence in the trial as well as his 'no comment' police interview.

"If you were accused of murder and there was a true and simple explanation as to why you had driven a large knife into the chest of another man, well, wouldn't you be telling police that?" he asked the jury. "When it comes to your trial wouldn't you be telling the jury your version of events?"

The prosecutor argued that the