THE grieving partner of a man killed by two scrap dealers yesterday spoke of her heartache after his killers received custodial sentences totalling 16 years.

Julia Garland, 40, said the two pals who killed 45-year-old Barry Thomas in a bike sale row in Newport this summer had “robbed” her of a man with a “heart of gold”.

Ms Garland spoke to the Argus after Crown court judge John Griffiths Williams locked up the scrap metal dealers Calvin Wall, 46, and Shaun Walker, 19, for eight and 12 years respectively for his manslaughter.

Ms Garland told the Argus: “It’s been awful because I was going through a lot of depression with the loss of my mother and father, which Barry helped me through.

“It’s put me back in a dark place. Barry would do anything for anyone.

“It’s been very tough under the circumstances he has been taken, I feel I have been robbed.”

Mr Thomas died of a catastrophic haemorrhage to the brain two days after a the incident in which he was fatally injured – a dispute over the sale of a moped in Methuen Road, Newport, on June 2.

Witnesses said Walker and Wall beat up the Bettws man after he told them the moped had been “promised” to him. Walker had bought it off the seller the previous day.

The scrap metal dealers pleaded not guilty to murder but were found guilty of manslaughter following a Newport Crown Court trial last month.

Ms Garland said: “I was 17 and he was 22 when we met. Barry was a top bloke. He had a heart of gold.

“He had a great sense of humour. Everybody liked him and respected him.

“Barry was all I really had.”

Wall, of Walsall Street, Newport, was jailed for eight years on Friday.

Walker, of Newman Close, Newport, was given a 12-year sentence with eight years to be served in a young offenders’ institution and four years on licence.

Ms Garland added: “I’m happy about the sentence the younger one received, but I wish the older guy Wall had got more. He encouraged the younger one.”