The heir to a multimillion-pound nightclub empire has been jailed for 13 and a half years for stabbing his dad to death after years of being treated as his “whipping boy”.

David West junior, 45, worked for bullying and overbearing David West senior from the age of 14 and played a pivotal role in the success of the family business.

But by December 12 last year, he had enough and stabbed the 70-year-old alcoholic to death as he was slumped in a stupor at the bottom of the stairs at his home off Jermyn Street in London’s Piccadilly.

A jury at the Old Bailey failed to reach a verdict on a murder charge earlier this year and today pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of loss of control.

Sentencing today, Nicholas Hilliard QC, said: “It was clear that you suffered verbal abuse and verbal aggression from your father for many years.”

Staff had described him as his father’s “whipping boy” and this treatment amounted to psychological bullying, he said.

But, the judge said that at the time of his death, Mr West senior, a former Romford Market barrow boy, had been particularly vulnerable and the evidence against the defendant was “overwhelming”.