TWO brothers who descended on a man 'like a pack of wolves' have been jailed for life for murder.

It comes after brothers Sidney, 26, and of no fixed abode, and Charlie, 19, of Ashby Road, Totton, were found guilty at Winchester Crown Court last week of killing 26-year-old Courtney Jones in what was described as a 'frenzied attack' in Salisbury Road, Totton.

The court heard the pair carried out the attack on Mr Jones, which involved him being kicked, punched, stamped on and hit over head with a brick, before Sidney stabbed the 26-year-old victim with a kitchen knife “at least twice”.

Setting out the case against the Cooper brothers, prosecutor Adam Feest QC asked the judge, Mr Justice Choudhury, to consider a minimum prison term of 30 years as, he argued, the murder was in the course of a robbery of a bag containing drugs and during the trial said it was Charlie who brought the knife. The court had heard Mr Jones was a known drug dealer.

However, Sidney's barrister James Newton-Price QC disagreed. He said: "It did, in my submission, remain a feature of this case that whether this started as a robbery and who took the knife to the scene were both areas subject to a degree of uncertainty.

"It is more likely that it was Mr Jones, bearing in mind past history, who took the knife to the scene."

Charlie's barrister Matthew Jewell QC added Charlie was never witnessed with a knife at the scene.

As previously reported, Mr Jones commonly known as Timmy and of Deerlands Avenue, Sheffield, had been visiting his friend Bethany Fee at the address in Salisbury Road on August 25, while the Cooper brothers were in another nearby home.

Sometime after 7pm the pair had been trying to get into Ms Fee’s home, but when Mr Jones came out to confront them, he was attacked.

Sentencing the pair to life behind bars, of which Sidney will serve a minimum of 18 years and Charlie 15 years, Judge Justice Choudhury said: "As [Mr Jones] stepped out, both of launched a vicious attack.

"[Witness Stephen Lucas] said you had descended on him like a pack of wolves."

However, he added Mr Jones' history of incidents involving knives "cannot be ignored". The judge said: "It is quite possible Timmy emerged from the house with a knife... The motive for the attack remains unclear."