BUTCHER ROBERT JONES’ NIGHTMARE ORDEAL OF BEING

BUTCHER ROBERT JONES’ NIGHTMARE ORDEAL OF BEING

AN ACCUSED MURDERER ENDED ON WEDNESDAY AFTER THE JUDGE DIRECTED THE

JURY TO ACQUIT HIM.

MR JONES, 29, WAS CHARGED WITH MURDERING RICHARD BALDWIN,

32, WHO WAS STABBED TO DEATH AFTER HE BROKE INTO MR JONES HOME IN

MEADOW CROFT LODGE, BALCOMBE ROAD, HORLEY SURREY, ON FEBUARY 8, LAST

YEAR.

THE JURY HAD BEEN TOLD MR JONES AWOKE IN THE NIGHT TO FIND

MR BALDWIN ATTACKING HIM ABOUT THE HEAD WITH A RING SPANNER.

HE DID NOT RETALIATE UNTIL HE WAS HIT AT LEAST FIVE TIMES.

BELIEVING HE WAS FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE, HE GRABBED A COMMANDO KNIFE

FROM HIS BEDSIDE CUPBOARD AND LASHED OUT.

THE KNIFE BLADE PLUNGED SIX INCHES INTO MR BALDWIN’S HEAD.

HE DIED MINUTES LATER.

MR BALDWIN, OF HALCON COURT, LONDON ROAD, REDHILL, SURREY,

FIRST VISITED THE HOME AFTER HIS ESTRANGED WIFE, SANDRA, HAD MOVED IN

WITH MR JONES, BUT HE HAD NEVER BEEN VIOLENT, MR JONES LATER TOLD

POLICE.

ON THE NIGHT OF THE STABBING AN ANGRY BALDWIN TELEPHONED MR

JONES AND THREATENED: ‘I’M COMING FOR YOU’.

MR JONES LATER TOLD POLICE: ‘I PUT DOWN THE TELEPHONE AND

THOUGHT NO MORE ABOUT IT.

‘

BUT AFTER THE COUPLE WENT TO BED BALDWIN BURST INTO THEIR

BEDROOM.

‘I DON’T KNOW HOW HE GOT IN.

HE HIT ME WITH A LONG

SPANNER.

YES, I STABBED HIM.

IT WAS SELF-DEFENCE.

‘

MR JONES HAD TO HAVE FIVE OF EIGHT HEAD INJURIES STITCHED IN

HOSPITAL.

HE SAID HE HAD BEEN ‘WARY’ OF BALDWIN BUT HAD NEVER

FEARED HIM.

AND HE INSISTED HE HAD NOT DELIBERATELY TAKEN THE KNIFE

INTO THE BEDROOM.

HE EXPLAINED THAT HE WAS A COLLECTER OF KNIVES AND THEY WERE

‘ALL OVER THE HOUSE’.

HE SAID: ‘BALDWIN BEGAN TO HIT ME ABOUT THE HEAD.

I WAS

UNABLE TO FIGHT HIM OFF.

I LASHED OUT.

THE LIGHT CAME ON AND I SAW

I HAD STUCK THE KNIFE INTO THE SIDE OF HIS HEAD.

I COULD NOT SEE

WHERE I WAS AIMING.

‘I BELIEVE I WAS SAVING MY OWN LIFE.

I ONLY MEANT TO DISARM

HIM – TO STOP HIS ATTACK.

‘

HE ADDED: ‘I ONLY WANT TO SAY I DID NOT MEAN TO KILL HIM.

‘

AT THE END OF THE PROSECUTION CASE AND LEGAL SUBMISSIONS

BY MR PAUL PURNELL, QC, DEFENDING, JUDGE FRANCIS PETRE RULED THERE

WAS NO CASE FOR MR JONES TO ANSWER AND FORMALLY DIRECTED THE JURY

FIND HIM NOT GUILTY OF MURDER.

ENDS.