Man jailed for life after £10 phone debt murder

A man who stabbed his housemate to death over a £10 phone debt has been jailed for life.

Mark Jesse, 51, attacked Charlie Belsham at their address on Castle Road in Chatham on 1 November 2025, after Jesse became angered about a row between his victim and Ashley Robinson - a visitor to the property - regarding the sale of a mobile.

Kent Police said Jesse later went to Belsham's room, then reportedly emerged saying: "I've stabbed him in the ribs."

Having previously been found guilty of murder, Jesse was jailed for a minimum of 20 years at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday for "unjustifiable and rash" actions which "tragically cut short someone's life over a simple argument", according to police.

Police said Belsham, who was in his 40s, was found with a single fatal stab wound to the chest.

Jesse and Robinson then fled the house and drove off together, before abandoning their car in Kingfisher Drive, a couple of miles away.

They were both arrested during the next 48 hours, police said.

Robinson, 41, of Meadow Bank Road, Chatham, was jailed for six years and disqualified from driving for eight years after being convicted of assisting an offender, dangerous driving and admitting to having handled stolen goods.

Both he and Jesse also admitted to arson with recklessness to the endangerment of life after a car was set alight near Mayweed Avenue in a separate incident prior to Belsham's murder, the flames from which damaged a nearby house.

No one was injured in the blaze.

"A man's life was tragically and prematurely cut short over a simple argument, and it is solely due to Jesse's unjustifiable and rash decision to take a knife into the victim's room that day," said Kent Police's Det Ch Insp Martin Davies.

"That he ran from the scene and consistently denied his actions show his lack of remorse and morality.

"There is no more serious a crime than murder and I'm satisfied that Jesse's prison sentence reflects his having taken someone's life deliberately and without reason."

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