THE GIRLFRIEND of a cold-blooded killer has been handed a ten month prison sentence for getting rid of the trainers he wore when he brutally murdered mum of five Pennie Davis for the price of £1,500.

Lian Doyle nervously stood in the dock at Winchester Crown Court this morning having admitted earlier this year that she had perverted the course of justice by disposing of the trainers of evil contract killer Justin Robertson.

But the 24-year-old, from Hythe, walked free from court today having already served more than half that sentence while on remand.

The judge, Mr Justice Popplewell said the girlfriend of bungling Robertson was unaware they were linked to the pre-meditated execution of Pennie and that she had most likely been "manipulated" by him.

Her sentencing comes less than 24 hours after 36-year-old Robertson and the man who hired him to kill supermarket worker Pennie, Ben Carr were sentenced to life in jail.

Prosecutor Siobhan Linsley told the court that Doyle was asked by Robertson to retrieve the trainers he had worn during the stabbing of 47-year-old Pennie, from a neighbour that he had given them to on the day of the murder, September 2, last year.

The court heard that two days after the killing, he had told her to burn them, but instead she gave them to somebody else to dispose of them.

When she was first interviewed by police she failed to tell them the truth, but ten days later she asked officers to reinterview her and she confessed.

In mitigation, her barrister Charlie Gabb told the court that she was unaware at the time they were connected to a murder and believed they were trainers he had worn during burglaries.

He said: "She must have been in somewhat of awe of him in light of her own vulnerability.

"She is a young lady who has never had any experience of the criminal justice system, it has been a considerable shock."

He added that Doyle, who has no previous convictions, was released on bail but asked to be taken into custody while awaiting sentence as she had nowhere else to go.

Sentencing her, Mr Popplewell said: "You did not know they had been worn during a murder or were involved in a murder investigation.

"You thought Justin Robertson had been wearing then for a burglary and that was why you were being asked to deposed of them."

He added the charge was serious but said there were mitigating factors.

He said: "Having heard all the evidence I am satisfied that Justin Robertson was a dominant character and he's likely to have manipulated you."

He sentenced her to ten months in prison but due to time already served since October, she was released from custody.

It comes following the murder trial of Pennie, which spanned seven weeks.

Robertson was convicted of murder and 22-year-old Carr, of Edward Road, Shirley, was convicted of conspiracy to murder.

Robertson stabbed 47-year-old Pennie at least ten times, leaving her mortally wounded and with no chance of survival as she tended her horses in a field near Beaulieu.

He was recruited by Carr, whose deep-rooted hatred of Pennie, his dad's former partner, drove him to hatch the planned execution.

He wanted to silence once and for all, to stop her from resurrecting historic claims that he indecently assaulted girls when he was a teenager.

He offered Robertson, a greedy career criminal, £1,500 to plunge the knife convincing him that Pennie was a paedophile, which in their "twisted minds" gave them the justification to murder her.

But the plot quickly unraveled when Robertson made the grave error of dropping a car key beside her body - a mistake that led police straight to him.

Samantha Maclean, 28, of Beech Crescent, Hythe, was cleared of conspiracy to murder.

Robertson was sentenced to a minimum of 32 years and Carr was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years.