A British kickboxer nicknamed Pitbull who stabbed a former US Marine to death in Thailand was jailed today for 25 years.
Lee Aldhouse, 30, killed Dashawn Longfellow after a fist fight at the Freedom Bar in the resort of Rawai on Phuket island. He admitted murder, despite fighting extradition.
Aldhouse was a semi-professional kickboxer and was known for boasting that he was invincible. Mr Longfellow, 26, also took part in the sport.
The court heard that on the night of the attack in August 2010 Aldhouse stood up and challenged everyone in the bar to a fight. Mr Longfellow got up to go to the toilet, but Aldhouse stopped him and a brawl started.
The Briton left the bar and CCTV footage showed him enter a 7/11 store and leave with a knife. He then went home and changed it for a deadlier blade.
Mr Longfellow was attacked near his apartment and managed to get inside before collapsing in front of his girlfriend. Aldhouse, of Birmingham, was arrested at Heathrow after fleeing Thailand. He was held in the UK for almost two years before his extradition last December — the first Briton to be extradited from the UK to face a Thai trial.
Last month as he was remanded for sentence he said: “I would like to apologise to his family and friends. I didn’t mean to kill him like that. I got very drunk. I understand my apology will not be enough for the family.” As a result of his guilty plea, Judge Montri Sarot cut a 50-year life term by half.
Longfellow had served in Iraq and Afghanistan, where a bomb exploded under his truck, filling 80 per cent of his body with metal. He was awarded the Purple Heart medal.
