Mark Jesse, 51, was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years at Maidstone Crown Court for the murder of Charlie Belsham at their shared Castle Road home on 1 November 2025.
Mark Jesse has been jailed for life — minimum 20 years — for the murder of Charlie Belsham, stabbed to death in his room at a shared house in Castle Road, Chatham. Jesse, 51, was sentenced on 11 September after being convicted of murder on 15 June at Maidstone Crown Court. Ashley Robinson, 41, of Meadow Bank Road, Chatham, who was at the address the night Belsham died, received six years and a driving ban of seven years and 56 days, according to court records.
The row that started it all was over £10. Robinson had visited the property on 1 November 2025 and got into an argument with Mr Belsham, who had allegedly not paid him for a phone. Jesse, angered by the dispute, picked up a knife and went to Mr Belsham’s room with another man. They were back out within minutes. “We’ve done him,” they were heard to say, the court heard. Jesse was also reported to have said he had “stabbed him in the ribs.” Mr Belsham, who was in his 40s, was found with a single fatal stab wound to the chest.
Both men fled together, drove off and dumped their car in Kingfisher Drive. Both were arrested within two days.
Earlier that same morning — at 7.12am — a car had been set alight in a residential driveway near Mayweed Avenue. The fire spread to the property’s front door and caused serious damage. No one was injured in the blaze. Jesse and Robinson both later admitted arson with recklessness as to the endangerment of life. Robinson also admitted handling stolen goods.
At Maidstone Crown Court on 15 June, Jesse was found guilty of murder. Robinson was convicted of assisting an offender.
Detective Chief Inspector Martin Davies, the senior investigating officer, said Mr Belsham’s life had been “tragically and prematurely cut short over a simple argument” and called Jesse’s decision to take a knife into the victim’s room “unjustifiable and rash.” There is, he added, “no more serious a crime than murder” — and with Jesse behind bars, “he can do no more harm to the community for a long time.”