FOUR men who told a murder trial witness they would kill him if he gave evidence have been jailed for a total of 10 years.

The quartet visited the home of John Amadasun just three days before he was due to give his account of events into the fatal stabbing of father-of-four Blayne Ridgway in Oxford.

Dexter Williams, 22, and Byron Haines, 21, tried to force their way into his flat after hearing Mr Amadasun’s name mentioned as a witness in an earlier court hearing.

Williams was accused of warning Mr Amadasun: “I’ll have to kill you if you go to court”, as he used his fingers and thumb in a gun gesture.

A scuffle then ensued before the victim fell down a flight of steps, the hearing at Reading Crown Court was told.

As Mr Amadasun lay on the ground he was punched and kicked, while Williams and Haines were joined by 20-year-old George Kirika and Callum Spencer, 19.

They had each denied charges of intimidating a witness, but were all found guilty by a jury after a nine-day trial last month.

Mr Amadasun, who had been outside the Que Pasa bar when victim Blayne Ridgway was murdered, gave a key witness statement to police about the killing on May 8 last year.

Eze Eke, 17, was later convicted of murder and is serving a minimum of 15 years behind bars.

Before that sentence was passed, the pals feared Eke would serve up to 25 years in prison if Mr Amadasun testified in the case at Oxford Crown Court last November.

Colin McCarraher, defending Haines, told the hearing: “For anyone going to prison as an adult it is a steep learning curve.

“He has repeat offences of breaching ASBOs and was as a young man, during his teenage years, completely out of control.

“He had not helped himself and has had this reputation since he was 14, but this offence is more serious than anything else he has done.

“He is now the father of a child and this has the potential as a change in this man’s life.

“We don’t want the tough man reputation back. He wants to be an electrician and has real ambition.”

Stephen Bailey, defending Williams, said the young dad had been scared by his time spent in prison since the trial finished.

“He has been in Bullingdon and it is an environment which has scared him. He has two young children. He has shown remorse expressed in a genuine nature.”

Clare Evans, defending Spencer, said that her client’s role was significantly less than the others.

“He didn’t shout and wasn’t at the door,” she said.

In a separate incident, police arrested Spencer for having cannabis, five wraps of cocaine, three mobile phones and £388 pounds in cash on him.

He maintained he was holding them for somebody else, but admitted it was “a stupid thing to do.”

Nick Cotter, representing Kirika, said: “His involvement was a misguided sense of loyalty to Eze Eke. He thought that Mr Amadasun would be ok to talk and he believed, truly naively, that some how by talking to this man things would come right for his friend.”

Yesterday Judge Richard Parkes QC handed Williams, of Coriander Way, Oxford, a sentence of three years and six months in prison, Kirika of Woodin’s Way, Oxford, was jailed for 18 months.

Haines, of Henley Street, Oxford, will serve three years and for breaching his ASBO for the violence shown during the intimidation he faced a 12 months sentence, which will run concurrently with the other charge.

Spencer of Nettlebed Mead, Oxford, was sentenced to two years in prison for the drug offences and handed an 18-month stretch for his part in the intimation, which will run concurrently.

All four were also given a restraining order to not contact Mr Amadasun.