A decorator left severely disabled when a ‘crazed’
A decorator left severely disabled when a ‘crazed’ knifeman attacked him at a family barbecue saw his attacker jailed for eleven years today (Friday).
Wheelchair-bound John Wilson, 42, was stabbed five times on his doorstep as his horrified partner and friends looked on.
The major artery in his neck was severed in the attack and Mr Wilson was saved by neighbours who rushed to give him first aid.
Knifeman Francis McCarthy, 47, had furiously marched round to the house with a twelve-inch blade after a neighbour said Mr Wilson was making threats ‘to do him.
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Painter and decorator McCarthy punched him in the face and lashed out with the knife before calmly walking back to his wife waiting in the car outside.
Mr Wilson was left paralysed down his left side, unable to walk, talk or swallow and spent three months in hospital.
Although he returned home from the rehabilitation unit four weeks ago, he still has major difficulties which prevent him from leading a normal life, the court heard.
Judge Richard Hawkins, QC said: ‘Mr Wilson suffered at your hands a severe attack and the results have been catastrophic.
‘You stabbed him plainly not in self defence but with an intention to do serious bodily harm.
But for the hasty actions of Patricia McGuire and PC David Rozevskis, Mr Wilson would have died.
‘The least sentence that is proper is one of eleven years in prison.
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Prosecutor Mr Paul Dodgson said guests had been enjoying the barbecue on May 14 last year before the incident was triggered by a children’s row.
The crowd at the home at [26] Malmesbury Close, Pinner, Mr Wilson shared with partner Dawn Evans included seven children, a group of parents and an off-duty policeman and his wife.
But an argument between the children and another girl outside a neighbour’s house caused Mr Wilson to confront her mother, Julie Maunders.
Mr Dodgson said: ‘There was verbal abuse and swearing between them at this stage and Julie Maunders was later to claim he made threats against her partner and Francis McCarthy.
‘For the next two hours nothing of note occurred.
What seems to have happened is that Julie Maunders phoned her friend Julie McCarthy, the defendant’s wife.
‘She told her of the threats made by John Wilson and the conversation was passed on to the defendant.
He and his wife left in two separate cars.
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When McCarthy arrived in his red BMW he was pointed out Mr Wilson’s house by Julie Maunders.
‘He drove his BMW to a grassy area in front of the house just as a number of children were leaving,’ Mr Dogson said.
One 18 year-old noticed a black handle sticking out of his trousers and was told: ‘You’re next.
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A friend Jacqueline Brown opened the door to McCarthy as he demanded to see Mr Wilson for ‘threatening my friends.
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Mr Dodgson said: ‘John Wilson pushed his way past her and his wife and lunged at McCarthy and punched him in the face causing a denture to be knocked out of his mouth.
‘Jacqueline Brown had not had time to warn him about the knife and he has not been able to speak to police since.
But she is certain McCarthy did not fall to the ground.
‘John Wilson was stabbed five times and witnesses said blood spurted from the wound in his neck like a fountain.
‘He initially walked into the kitchen claiming he was all right.
He soon collapsed and but for the emergency first aid he received he would have died.
‘It is only by good fortune and medical intervention that John Wilson did not die.
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Mr Wilson can now walk indoors with assistance but is otherwise confined to a wheelchair.
‘His right shoulder area has deepened and he still has great difficulty with that arm and involuntary movements in the arm and fingers,’ Mr Dogson said.
‘He now has severe living difficulties and difficulties in communicating.
He is unable to care for himself and requires help washing and dressing.
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Mr Wilson now lives with his parents after the relationship with Ms Evans ended because of the stress they suffered after the attack.
McCarthy calmly strolled back to his car with his wife and told a woman who asked what had happened: ‘Nothing for you to worry about love.
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He went on the run but was traced in June when police phoned his mobile.
Although he promised to hand himself in he was only caught a month later at a pub in Paddington when police charged in and overpowered him.
McCarthy asked them: ‘How is the fellow doing?’
He claimed he had been punched to the floor and stabbed Mr Wilson ‘to get him off me.
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McCarthy later confessed to police that he was ‘a crazed man.
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His previous convictions included an attempt to stab another man with a plastic knife and he received two years in jail for maliciously wounding a pub landlord in 1988.
McCarthy, of Salisbury Road, Pinner, Middlesex, admitted wounding with intent on May 14 last year.
The judge directed a not guilty verdict on the initial charge of attempted murder.
ends
