A DRUG dealer who murdered a rival pusher in East Oxford was told today he will spend at least 18 years in prison.

Illegal immigrant Robert Chin, who used the nickname Champagne, attacked 42-year-old Devon McPherson with a knife on May 18.

The victim staggered to the Regal nightclub, in Cowley Road, before slumping in the foyer, with his last words being Chin’s street-name – Champagne.

A jury at Oxford Crown Court convicted Chin of murder and he was given a mandatory life sentence, with Judge Anthony King saying he must serve a minimum of 18 years.

Chin, 42, came to England from Jamaica on a false passport in September last year and settled in Oxford that November, “with the sole intention of dealing drugs”, police said after yesterday’s verdict.

Chin, who lived in three homes in Ridgfield Road and one in Cumberland Road in his short time in the city, murdered Mr McPherson, known as Wycombe Jay, in broad daylight on a Monday lunchtime, following an altercation minutes earlier.

The trial, which ran into its fourth week, heard that Chin had cycled to a shop in Magdalen Road on the morning of May 18 and on his return was pulled from the bike by father-of-nine Mr McPherson, who insisted it was his.

About 15 minutes after the scuffle, in which Mr McPherson had taken the bike and a jacket, Chin went looking for his victim and plunged a knife into his body three times.

Chin, who has 10 children and cannot read or write, then fled to West London and was not arrested until June 12.

Witnesses told the jury Chin habitually carried a knife and boasted of spending time on death row in the US for murder, a claim which proved to be a lie.

Judge King said: “I do not know that I can be sure what the real background to this case is, whether in addition to some minor dispute over a bike, there was some form of a turf war concerning the supply of drugs, but what I’m sure of on the jury’s verdict is that on that day you struck him three blows with a knife and killed him.”

Det Chief Insp Mick Saunders, who led the murder investigation, welcomed the sentence tonight.

He said: “While this murder may appear to be related to drugs, it’s more simply about one violent man intimidating people in Oxford.

“The community will now be rid of him for years to come.

“Robert Chin was a man who illegally came to live in the UK, among the people of Oxford, with the sole intention of dealing drugs.

“The activities of these people who profit from the misery of others will not be tolerated in Oxford.”

Mr McPherson’s mother Zenna said: “Devon was cruelly taken away from me and my husband and we will miss him dearly.”

Chin was also convicted of possessing controlled drugs with intent to supply, for which he was given a five-year sentence, to run concurrently with his sentence for the murder.

Judge King said he would also recommend Chin for deportation once his sentence has been served.