AN IRISHMAN who launched a sustained and unprovoked attack on a man he described as 'a friend' while he slept on a bus has been jailed.
John Edward Doherty, 39, of Clem Attlee Court, London SW6, was sentenced to 21 years and eight months at the Old Bailey on Friday for the murder of 48-year-old Archie Sheppard.
Doherty, who the Metropolitan Police have confirmed to The Irish Post was Irish, had pleaded guilty to murder earlier this week.
He also pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing an offensive weapon, one of which he accepts was used to commit the murder.
He was sentenced to two years' imprisonment for each count, to run concurrently with the murder sentence.
His victim, Mr Sheppard, was originally from Ballyclare in Co. Antrim.
He was found with stab wounds on a bus in Central London last April after what police described as a ‘cowardly and brutal’ the attack.
Victim Archie Edward (Image: Met Police)Mr Sheppard’s wife, Odette Mbah, described Doherty as a ‘violent and dangerous’ man.
"Although the result of the court hearing won't ever bring my husband back and I will always miss Archie desperately, I can take some relief that the man responsible has finally admitted to what he has done,” she said.
"I will always wonder exactly why he did what he did and I now have to prepare myself for the fact that we may never find out the reason that he killed Archie.
"He clearly is a violent and dangerous man, so I am pleased that he won't be a danger to the public for some considerable time.
"I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the police for all their hard work in getting justice for Archie."
The court heard that Mr Sheppard and Doherty had met up in Willesden on April 27 and spent the day riding buses.
Doherty claimed both men knew each other and drank together on occasions but this was never substantiated.
Doherty launched the unprovoked attack on Mr Sheppard as he slept on the top deck of a bus in London shortly after midnight.
He was arrested in Fulham on Saturday, April 29.
