Joss Stone said she forgives two men convicted in a 2013 plot to kidnap and kill her, and said she is ready to return to the United Kingdom after more than a decade living in the United States.
Stone, 38, discussed the case on the Nicky Byrne HQ podcast, saying she "no longer lives in fear" and that she hopes the two men "are okay and healed." She also said the episode made her feel unsafe in the family home where she grew up and contributed to her decision to move to the U.S. with her husband and children.
Kevin Liverpool and Junior Bradshaw were arrested in 2011 near Stone's Devon home after police found a car containing a samurai sword, knives, hammers, rope, a body bag and other items. The pair were convicted in 2013 at Exeter Crown Court of conspiring to kidnap and murder Stone; a judge said they had a "clear intention" to kill and dump her body in a river.
Both men had their original sentences reduced on appeal. Liverpool was originally given a life sentence with a minimum term of 10 years and eight months; the Court of Appeal later reduced his minimum term to six and a half years. Bradshaw's sentence was reduced from 18 years to 10 years on appeal. Authorities have confirmed both men were released from custody earlier than their initial sentences indicated: Liverpool was released on licence after a Parole Board hearing in November 2019, while Bradshaw was granted automatic release by the Ministry of Justice in 2016 after serving half his sentence, according to court records and official statements.
In her podcast appearance, Stone said she had lingering questions about the motive behind the plot and whether the attackers were acting on behalf of someone else. "I still don't even know if they were pissed off at me or if they were hired by someone that was pissed off at me. Who knows? I don't have a lot of answers," she said. She added that she would like to talk to them: "Can we just have a cup of tea? Can we just talk about it?"
Stone described the incident as traumatic but said she had moved beyond fear. "It's traumatic because, of course, that is a horrible thing to have happened — but it didn't happen," she told the podcast. "The idea that somebody would want to chop you up into small pieces and put you in a little bag is a bit jarring... But luckily, they didn't get there. They didn't hurt me."
The trial record and police statements presented at Exeter Crown Court included details that the defendants had labelled Stone a "she-devil" because of alleged links to members of the royal family. Court testimony described the pair as disoriented and ill-prepared; prosecutors said they crashed near Bristol while driving to Stone's home, became lost and approached passersby while holding a photograph of the singer.
Stone left Britain shortly after the 2011 arrests and later settled in the United States with her husband, former Marine Cody DaLuz. The couple have four young children. On the podcast she said she is now "ready to come home" to the U.K. and that forgiving the men does not erase the unsettling memory of the plot.
Legal records show Liverpool satisfied the Parole Board that he was no longer a danger to the public before his release. Bradshaw's release followed the Court of Appeal's direction that he be released on licence five years from the date of his arrest and remand in custody in 2011.
Stone's comments are the latest public statements by the singer about the episode; she has previously spoken about feeling unsafe in the house where she grew up and about the factors that prompted her and her husband to relocate abroad. She has continued to work as a recording artist and perform internationally while raising her family in the United States.
Police and court documents from the original investigation list a range of weapons and items recovered during raids related to the case, including a crossbow seized from a Manchester address connected to the men. Prosecutors argued at trial that the items and the defendants' actions demonstrated a plan to kidnap and kill Stone. The convictions were upheld in 2013, but the subsequent appeal court reductions and early releases have renewed public attention to the case as Stone prepares her return to Britain.
Stone said she felt sympathy for the families of the two men as well as for the men themselves. "It's a weird feeling because it's hard to not feel sorry for people that are in that space. It's also hard to not feel sorry for the mother of those people," she said. She added that she had few answers about motive and that she hoped to find closure by returning to the U.K.