Penelope Davis
Penelope Davis was found dead in a field where she tended her horses

The girlfriend of a hired killer who murdered a mother of five has avoided prison.

Lian Doyle, 24, was the partner of knifeman Justin Robertson, who stabbed to death Pennie Davis after being paid £1,500 ($2,260) by her former stepson to do it.

Doyle helped get rid of a pair of shoes owned by Robertson, 36, after the crime, in September last year.

Robertson was jailed for life for the killing at a farm in the New Forest, Hampshire, with Davis's former stepson Benjamin Carr sentenced to 30 years for conspiracy to murder.

Doyle was convicted of perverting the course of justice in the case and handed a 10-month tariff at Winchester Crown Court. But she will not step inside jail due to time spent on remand.

Davis's murder was described as "particularly brutal" at the trial, where it emerged Robertson stabbed her 14 times.

He was hired by Carr during a long-running feud between him and the 47-year-old.