Two men have been found guilty of carrying out a “merciless” revenge killing.

Nicholas Bridge and Daniel Onofeghare stood trial over the killing of Anthony Williams in Horsham in September last year.

The jury at Hove Crown Court convicted Bridge of murder, and Onofeghare of manslaughter today.

Philip Bennetts QC, prosecuting, previously told the jurors that they had gone to Mr Williams’s flat in Park Way in Horsham, and said the case had a backdrop of drug use and dealing.

According to Mr Bennetts, 18-year-old Bridge, who is also known as Max, went with 20-year-old Onofeghare, known as Ace, because they believed they had been robbed by Mr Williams the previous day.

He said: “Onofeghare sent a text message saying ‘I got rushed and robbed’. Both men went to Anthony Williams’s address intending that he would be killed or at the very least be caused very serious injury. It was a revenge attack.

“It was an immediate attack, they stabbed him on a number of occasions, and one of those wounds caused his death.

“It was a short, merciless and vicious attack.”

Mr Bennetts said witnesses had seen Bridge, of Loughborough Park in Brixton, boasting with a six-inch blade saying: “If anyone tries robbing me, this is what they are getting.”

Meanwhile Onofeghare intimidated others in the flat with a knife to stop them from intervening.

Bridge, of Loughborough Park in Brixton, and Onofeghare, of no fixed address, had started dealing class A drugs in Horsham in order to pay off debts.

They had denied murder, and claimed they were acting in self defence.

After arriving Bridge claimed that Mr Williams attacked him with a knife and a baseball bat because he was high on cocaine, but was overpowered by Bridge.

But an expert scientist told the jury that a wound suffered by Bridge could not have been inflicted by the same knife which caused Mr Williams’s fatal wounds.

Experts said “severe” force would have had to have been used to inflict the deadly wounds.

Forensics officers described finding blood on both defendants’ clothes. There was also blood running from the bedroom through the kitchen room and into the living room of the one bedroom flat.

Blood was described as “cascading” down the bedroom wall, and was also found in the stairs outside where the defendants fled.

Bridge and Onofeghare now face sentencing for murder and manslaughter on Friday, July 13.