A burglar who carried out frenzied knife attacks o

A burglar who carried out frenzied knife attacks on a householder and a paramedic within the space of minutes was jailed for 12 years at the Old Bailey today.

(Tues)

Intruder Steven Kelly, 32, slashed Theodore Slotover in front of his partner and announced: ‘Me going to cut you up – me is a murderer.

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Moments later Kelly stabbed ambulance paramedic Simon Spencer repeatedly in front of his woman colleague.

Mr Spencer is still too terrified to return to work.

Kelly then tried to take on armed police officers before he was finally knocked to the ground by a transit van.

His victims were left severely traumatised by the attacks and some required counselling to help them get over their ordeal.

Sentencing him Judge Jeremy Roberts, QC, said: ‘It must have been a terrifying experience for the victims to be awoken while sleeping in their beds in the safety and security of their home.

‘If anyone wants an appalling demonstration of people getting, if I can use the word, stoned on a combination of class A drugs this case provides it.

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The court was told how Mr Slotover and his girlfriend were awoken by crashing noises outside the bedroom door of their north London home.

‘When he opened the door he saw the defendant standing there with a Swiss Army knife and he started demanding money and jewellery,’ said prosecutor Ms Alison Robbins.

‘He then said: ”Me going to cut you up – me is a murderer, me is a murderer.

‘Mr Slotover thought it best to comply with his demands and handed him cash, credit cards, jewellery, his mobile phone and a laptop computer.

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Twisted Kelly then slashed the owner in his face and continued to shout: ‘Me is a murderer’.

Mr Slotover and his girlfriend eventually fled to a neighbouring flat and raised the alarm.

Police and ambulances arrived at the block in Cazenove Road, in Stoke Newington as Kelly set about raiding another flat.

Mr Spencer, 39, was approached by Kelly wielding an eight-inch knife in the communal hallway, said Ms Robbins.

Red-faced with anger, Kelly swung the knife saying: ‘Someone’s going to die tonight – I’m going to kill somebody’.

Mr Spencer tried to grab the knife but his bravery just enraged Kelly more as he launched a violent attack on the medic.

Ms Robbins told the court: ‘Kelly thrust the knife toward Spencer who was subjected to what can only be described as a frenzied attack.

‘He began waving around the knife in stabbing and slashing movements.

‘Mr Spencer started screaming out as he was forced against the wall and hit repeatedly with the blade.

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His colleague Terri Farina, 32, watched in horror as he slumped to the floor in a heap as Kelly lay over him and continued to stab.

She later told how she thought her bloodied partner was dead.

Miss Farina then threw her medical bag at him in an attempt to protect Mr Spencer, the court heard.

But the knifeman just turned round and stared at her before coolly telling her: ‘Now you.

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Then he ran from the scene chased by police officers.

One WPC sprayed CS gas in his face but still managed to flee.

Ms Robbins told the court he was pursued by armed police officers and eventually held at gunpoint.

‘Kelly reached inside his jacket and withdrew his knife again.

‘He began waving it at the officers saying: ”I’ll stab you next”.

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He was eventually detained after being knocked to the floor by a police van.

Kelly then pleaded with officers to shoot him dead, the court heard.

Kelly was quizzed by police some hours later but claimed he could not remember what had happened.

He burst into tears when witness statements were read to him detailing his violent actions from the previous evening.

He told police he had taken a cocktail of heroin, crack cocaine and Valium and washed it down with alcohol.

Kelly said he had been taking drugs all day and later that evening ‘all chaos broke loose’, the court heard.

A statement written by him was read to the court apologising for his actions.

It said: ‘I am stunned at what I did – it must have been a terrible experience for all the victims.

I am truly sorry.

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The burgled resident suffered a deep cut to his face – the paramedic had wounds to his hands, head and stomach and later needed psychotherapy following his ordeal.

Ms Robbins said: ‘This was nothing less than traumatic for those involved with long term effects.

They genuinely feared they were going to be killed.

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Kelly was living in the shadow of his successful brother who had become a teacher and is now working abroad, said Ms Dora Belford defending him.

He became disruptive following his poor schooling record and turned to crime to fuel his drugs habit.

Judge Roberts added: ‘These were exceptionally grave offences and at one time I was seriously considering life imprisonment but I’ve been persuaded that is not appropriate.

‘You chose to terrify those people and inflict disfiguring injuries using a large kitchen knife.

This has had a devastating effect on the lives of all the victims involved.

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The judge commended ambulanceman Mr Spencer on his bravery in trying to tackle Kelly and in protecting others from harm.

Kelly, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to two charges of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, aggravated burglary, burglary and three charges of making threats to kill.

He got 12 years concurrent on each of the GBH charges with lesser concurrent terms on each of the other offences.

In all the jail sentences added up to 41 years.

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