FOUR people have been cleared of murdering a man near his Jaywick home.

There were cries of "yes" at Chelmsford Crown Court today as the last man to face the murder charge was found not guilty.

Graham Wheatley joins his brother Laurence, Jason Bethell and Claire Saunders in being acquitted of the murder of 58-year-old John Smith.

It took the jury of nine men and three women 37 hours and 11 minutes to return their verdicts.

But trial Judge Christopher Ball QC said others had been involved in the killing.

"It is plain that the involvement of others that are not in the dock had a significant part to play in the death of John Smith," the judge said.

Graham Wheatley was convicted on an alternative charge of attempting to cause Mr Smith grevious bodily harm and Saunders was also convicted of assisting an offender.

She had denied helping Laurence Wheatley to leave the scene of the incident by driving him home.

Saunders, 31, from Riley Avenue, Jaywick, will be sentenced next month.

The judge told her she would not be jailed. The mother-of-three was granted bail.

Wheatley, 43, of Golf Green Road, Jaywick, was jailed for three and a half years.

He will serve half the sentence in prison, less 249 days he has spent on remand and could be released by the spring.

The trial heard Mr Smith was stabbed 11 times, kicked, punched and hit by a speeding car on July 11 last year close to his home in Broadway, Jaywick. He died two months later in hospital.

The prosecution alleged he died in a revenge attack after he threatened his former partner Deana McKee and Laurence Wheatley.

During the incident, Graham Wheatley appeared on the scene shortly after the attack on Mr Smith started.

Stephen Harvey QC, prosecuting, told the trial: "Graham Wheatley targeted Mr Smith by driving at him and colliding with him causing Mr Smith to ride up on the bonnet of the Citreon before he fell to the ground."

Judge Ball told him he had used his car as a weapon.

Mr Bethell, 31, of Broadway, Jaywick, was found not guilty of murder last Thursday.

Laurence Wheatley, 45, from Sea Way, Jaywick, was cleared of murder on Monday along with Saunders.