A “ferocious” killer who tried to evade capture by lightening his skin after stabbing to death a plumber has been jailed for 16 years.

Andre Joseph, 25, took extreme measures to try to avoid being arrested, using skin lightening cream and dying his hair bleach-blonde to try to distance himself from the fatal attack.

When fleeing the scene, he had also disguised himself as a decorator, putting on a jumpsuit and grabbing a paint tray, as a helicopter circled overhead trying to catch him, the Old Bailey heard.

Joseph and 18-year-old Eduardo Embalo were responsible for the death of Damien McLaughlin, 42, who was stabbed through the heart in a knife fight in Enfield.

The Old Bailey heard McLaughlin, a plumber for Speedy Jet Drainage who lived with his wife and son in Cheshunt, Herts, was hooked on cocaine and had gone to buy drugs.

However, he was ambushed by Embalo and Joseph, both wielding knives, in the afternoon of April 22. They both were cleared by a jury of murder but convicted of manslaughter, following a trial.

This morning Judge Anthony Leonard QC sentenced Joseph to 16 years in prison and jailed Embalo for 14 years, noting that although both have learning difficulties they had taken “very logical steps” to try to get away with the crime.

Joseph remained at large for a few days by attempting to change his appearance, including by “dyeing your hair and lightening your skin colour”, said the judge.

Describing the attack on Mr McLaughlin, he added: “You came at him each armed with a knife and at one stage towards the end of the fight, you Joseph had a knife in each hand.

“You were quite clearly seen to handle to knives and with such ferocity that both blades broke, one after the other.”

Embalo, from Tottenham, and Joseph, of no fixed address denied murder, manslaughter and possessing an offensive weapon.

They were both cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter and possession of an offensive weapon.