Pensioner who killed burglar now in hiding after harrowing ‘death threats’

A friend of the burglar said there is ‘nothing that they won’t do to get their own back’

78-year-old Richard Osborn-Brooks is in hiding after friends of the burglar he stabbed to death threaten him with revenge.

Henry Vincent, 37, died following a break-in at a south east London property belonging to Richard Osborn-Brooks on Wednesday.

Armed with a screwdriver Vincent received a single stab wound to his own chest, fled the property and collapsed in the street. Mr Osborn-Brooks was arrested on suspicion of murder, prompting fury across the country. Friends said the pensioner “deserved a medal” and should not be in prison.

The Met Police, after consulting with the Crown Prosecution Service, did not charge Osborn-Brooks.

However, friends of criminal Vincent and fellow travellers are threatening revenge.

A close family friend said: “Even though he [Henry] broke into the pensioner’s house armed with a screwdriver [there is] nothing that they [family] won’t do to get their own back.”

Speaking to MailOnline, he said: “This poor man and his wife won’t be safe going back into their own home. Anything could happen.

“They [Henry’s family] won’t get over a death of one of their own and they won’t rest until they get their revenge against anyone who takes a cherished loved one.

“And when I say revenge, I mean they’ll go armed with whatever they’ve got – guns, knives, anything that they can lay their hands on.”

Vincent’s accomplice on the night he died managed to escape and remains on the run.

Billy Jeeves, 28, is being sought by police following the burglary at around 12.45am on Wednesday April 4.

The Met Police released a mugshot of Jeeves and said he has links to Orpington and Swanley in Kent, and Cambridge.

Police also want to hear from anybody who may have seen his vehicle, a white Vauxhall Astra van with registration GU52 AXT – in the days and hours before and after the burglary.

The van was found burnt out and destroyed on the evening of Saturday, 7 April in Star Lane, near Hockingdon Lane in Orpington, Kent.

Mr Osborn-Brooks and his wife are now in police protection for fear of reprisal attacks, reportedly after receiving death threats.

Two officers were yesterday guarding their house where the ground floor windows have been boarded up.

CCTV cameras overlooking the house were also being installed amid fears for the pensioners’ safety upon their return.

If you have any information on Jeeves’ whereabouts, call 020 8721 4205 or 101, or call independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.