A petty burglar got more than he bargained for wh

A petty burglar got more than he bargained for when the owner of
the house he raided tracked him down and knifed him to death, the Old
Bailey heard.

Orville Blair, 25, died within minutes of the ferocious stabbing by
enraged home owner Paul Snell, 30.

Snell’s revenge attack two days after the crime landed him
in the dock at the Old Bailey.

On Friday he was jailed for three years after being found guilty of
manslaughter.

He was acquitted of murder.

Some 128 people from Henley-upon-Thames, where Snell runs a
corner store, signed a petition in his support.

The jury had heard that Snell had been letting out his home in
Booth Close, Thamesmead, south east London, when it was broken into on
May 9 last year.

Although none of his property was stolen, Snell was outraged when
he arrived in Thamesmead two days later and heard that his friend
Blair had been involved, said Mr Graham Boal, prosecuting.

Snell went to Blair’s home in Owen Close, Thamesmead, and came face
to face with him just as the younger man was leaving his home.

In front half a dozen passers-by, he was seen stabbing Blair again
and again.

Blair fled but was fatally wounded with a knife wound to his heart.

Despite the frantic efforts of emergency services, including a pair
of helicopter-based paramedics, he was dead on arrival at hospital.

Snell was seen calmly walking off with the knife.

When he gave himself in to police a few days later, he claimed
Blair had produced a closed flick knife and he snatched it out of his
hand.

It was in his hand when he began punching Blair.

Somehow the blade
must have come out and he was actually stabbing his victim without
realising it, he said.

Snell, of Luker Avenue, Henley, said he would never have knowingly
stabbed Blair, to whom he had previously lent money and even his car.

Snell also called a string of character witnesses and presented a
petition signed by 128 Henley people.

He was acquitted of murder but convicted of manslaughter.

Judge Brian Smedley QC told him: ‘The view I take of the facts is
that clearly you did not go armed yourself with a weapon.

‘I can only sentence you on the basis that when the fight began it
was he who produced that weapon and you took it off him.

‘In the fight that followed it is clear to me that you lost your
temper.

‘The jury found you guilty of manslaughter primarily on the basis
that you did not intend to cause him really serious harm.

‘The fact is he is now dead.

‘
The judge said that despite a series of convictions in his early
20s, Snell had kept out of trouble for many years and moved to Henley
with his wife and family to start up in business.

‘I accept the petition signed by 128 people who say your conduct
now and your helpfulness now show that you have changed from what you
might have been in your youth.

‘That has weighed with me very heavily.

‘
But he said an immediate prison sentence would have to follow.

Snell looked up at his friends in the public gallery as he was
sentenced to three years jail.

ENDS