An American husband and wife have been jailed for a total of 18 years after being convicted over the Hollywood killing of a former Oxford musician.

Friends of guitarist Roderick Poole, 45, a founder member of the Oxford Improvisors Co-operative, spoke of their shock at the sentences given to Michael and Angela Sheridan. Mr Poole suffered six stab wounds in an altercation with the Sheridans in Los Angeles on Mother's Day in May last year.

He and his American wife Lisa Ladaw-Poole had been to a concert and were walking towards the Hollywood outlet of the Mel's Drive-In chain when a passing car almost struck a restaurant worker.

Mr Poole said "Watch it" and remonstrated with the driver, Angela Sheridan, before she and her husband Michael got out of the vehicle and there was an altercation which ended in the attack on Mr Poole.

The jazz guitarist was taken to the California city's Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre, but died 20 minutes after the attack.

According to the Los Angeles Times, witnesses said they heard Angela Sheridan tell Mr Poole "I could kill you" several times before the assault started.

In court, Mrs Ladaw-Poole said: "He would speak for people who needed to be defended. He was my best friend. He was my life."

Mr Poole was friends with Graham and Adam Franklin — the sons of Ann Bowes, 74, of Linkside Avenue, North Oxford.

Tonight she said: "It was dreadful — I remember at the time emails were flying around all over the world when the news broke.

"He was a nice, gentle, young man. He was tall, had long hair and reminded me of Jesus.

"I was hoping he (Sheridan) would get life and the woman should have got more, because she instigated the whole thing. My sons are shocked and heartbroken. Adam was set to meet him soon after he was killed."

Friend Chris Powell said: "Many of the friends I have now I have because of Rod's music and his interest in music. Much of the music I enjoy now I enjoy because Rod introduced it to me.

"Rod's murder has robbed the world of an outstanding musician and has left a huge hole in the lives of his family and friends."

Mr Poole was well-known on the Oxford music scene in the early 1980s. He emigrated to America in 1989 and had released several albums there.

On Wednesday,Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor described the actions of the Sheridans as "cowardly" and "egregious beyond words".

He said Mr Poole was particularly vulnerable at the time he was "brutally attacked".

He sentenced Michael Sheridan, 27, to 15 years in prison for second degree murder, while his wife Angela, 26, was given three years for involuntary manslaughter. Angela Sheridan, who worked for a Los Angeles law firm, apologised for her actions and begged Mr Poole's family for forgiveness.

Mr Poole's friend and former business partner Richard Grunauer said: "He was a skinny little English kid with a heart of gold."

Friends said Mr Poole was a "pioneer of music" and a fixture of the Los Angeles experimental music scene.