A drugs runner accused of taking part in a revenge murder was not a “Mr Big”, his QC told a jury today.

Oliver Saxby, in his final speech for the defence, said the prosecution had transformed Rochester and Strood into “the set from the Godfather” in the trial of Levi Webb.

Prosecutor Kate Lumsdon QC had told Maidstone Crown Court in her final address that in that world “life is cheap and different rules apply”.

She added: “We’re talking the language of fear, an utterly brutal world”.

Webb, 22, of Scholars Rise, Strood, has denied murdering Sittingbourne man Peter Beale in September when a drug deal turned into a robbery.

Mr Beale’s body was found at the foot of Rochester Bridge. He had been stabbed. Webb’s boss, Billy Dole, 28, admitted murder at an earlier hearing.

Mr Saxby said Webb wasn’t a drugs "Mr Big” or a trusted “lieutenant” but someone who had turned to drug dealing as a “a stop-gap means of giving himself a leg up for accommodation and some sort of normal life with his partner.”

The Crown has alleged that Dole and Webb together murdered Beale.

Ms Lumsdon claimed that Beale had arranged a drugs deal with Webb - but instead robbed him.

"This action was to have fatal repercussions as Webb immediately telephoned his boss Dole. The two of them located Beale and then stabbed him to death.

"The Crown say this was brutal murder committed in revenge by Webb and Dole."

The body of Mr Beale was found in undergrowth near Rochester Bridge last year by a woman on her way to work.

The judge is expected to complete his summing up later today.

To read more of our in depth coverage of all of the major trials coming out of crown and magistrates' courts across the county, click here.

Read more: All the latest news from Medway