A pair of drug addicts have been found guilty of the brutal murder of a vulnerable charity shop volunteer who was stamped to death in his own home.

Lee Chugg and Jodie Swannick both kicked and stamped on 60-year-old Stephen Fogg who was left with the lower part of his face shattered and his chest caved in.

He had learning difficulties and autism and needed regular visits from support to enable him to live independently. He worked part time as the Red Cross shop in Plymstock.

Chugg and Swannick had been drinking vodka and taking heroin before they went to his home in Hawthorn Drive, Wembury, in the hope of finding alcohol or money to steal on the night of December 14, 2020.

Forensic evidence showed they carried out a joint attack which left Swannick’s shoe print on Mr Fogg’s face and Chugg’s bloodstained trainer print on the victim’s Plymouth Argyle shirt.

The only blood spilled in the attack was from Mr Fogg’s face, so this meant that Chugg must have stamped on the face first before jumping on the chest.

His fingerprints were recovered from the cooker in the kitchen where he had steadied himself as he stamped on Mr Fogg. Both went through the dying man’s pockets as he pleaded for help.

They fled the scene without calling an ambulance and remained at large until police found them hiding out at a house in Plymouth eight days later.

The couple had inflicted horrific injuries and a pathologist testified that those to the head and those to the chest were sever enough to kill him on their own.

He had a fractured skull, multiple fractures of his face including the crushing of his upper and lower jaw, and fractures to 19 of his 24 ribs, eight of which were broken in more than one place.

Both attackers were drug users, although Chugg claimed to have stopped at the time. Swannick moved in with him after being released from a short jail term three months before the killing.

She had previously paid for her habit by prostitution and shoplifting and told the jury she became psychologically dependent on Chugg.

They blamed each other for the murder. Chugg said Swannick had tried to stab Mr Fogg with scissors before stamping on him. Swannick said Chugg carried out all the stamping and she only joined in with three kicks at the end.

Swannick claimed that Chugg had accused Mr Fogg of being a paedophile as he stamped on him, asking ‘why is it that paedophiles never die’. There was not a shred of evidence that Fogg had ever harmed any child.

Chugg, aged 42, of Knighton Road, Plymouth, and Swannick, aged 32, formerly of Stoke Road, Plymouth, but now of no fixed address, both denied murder but were found guilty by a jury at Exeter Crown Court.

Judge Peter Johnson adjourned their sentence until Friday May 27 but told them they would both receive life imprisonment.

He said: “You will be sentenced next week. Only one sentence can be imposed for murder; that is a life sentence. The issue will be the tariff, which is the minimum period to be served before the parole board considers your release.”

During a three-week trial, the jury heard how Mr Fogg got to know Chugg because he went to a local shop every day to spend his £7.25 allowance which he was given by his carers.

Chugg lived in a flat above the shop where his behaviour started causing alarm after Swannick moved in, leading both to drink large amounts of vodka.

Mr Fogg was known as an eccentric by people around Wembury, where he was a distinctive figure because of his habit of wearing multiple layers of clothing, including three Argyle shirts.