Man found guilty of brutal murder of Blackpool hotelier Kevin Price by unanimous verdict
A 51-year-old man who claimed a Blackpool hotelier was ‘like a father to him’ has been found guilty of his brutal murder.
Kevin Price, aged 59, was found naked in a pool of blood after being stabbed 56 times at the Garfield Hotel, Springfield Road, in November 2024.
Defendant Adam Saunders had pleaded not guilty at Preston Crown Court to his murder, but a jury today took less than three hours to find him unanimously guilty.
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Saunders, who was arrested at a house in Regent Road, Blackpool, told the jury that Mr Price was a friend and he would never have hurt him.
Saunders told the jury he was a drug addict who was effectively homeless at the time, and Mr Price would lend or give him money for sexual favours.
The prosecution said Saunders was the only person seen going in or out of the former hotel where Mr Price lived in the days around his death.
The last date Mr Price was seen alive was November 7 and his body was found on November 10.
The trial heard that during that time Saunders took Mr Price's keys and visited the hotel several times, stealing property including his victim's bank cards, his passport and mobile phone and a television.
Saunders will be sentenced tomorrow by Mr Justice Martin Spencer.