I would have killed her, police told by man who stabbed partner at Shropshire home
A man who has been sentenced to eight years in jail for attempted murder told police he would have killed his partner if she hadn’t stopped him.
He was given five years to be served concurrently for wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, as he had also hit his 86-year-old mother Elizabeth Williams with a baseball bat.
Williams attacked them both at their shared home in Sefton Drive, Bomere Heath, near Shrewsbury, turning on his elderly mother after Ms Robinson had fled, bleeding and clutching the knife he had stabbed her with, to a nearby shop.
The attacks shocked the quiet village and led to a large area around the bungalow where the stabbing took place being cordoned off.
Antonie Muller, prosecuting, said Mr Williams had been unable to work since 2016 because of rheumatoid pain in his shoulder he was on medication for. He had a history of depression, but could not explain why this turned to violence on the morning of March 8.
He and Ms Robinson had some problems with their relationship and had been arguing, and he told police he got a knife out of the kitchen drawer thinking he “wanted to end everything, the arguments, the shouting”.
Mr Muller said he hid the knife behind his back and approached Ms Robinson, stabbing her in the stomach as soon as he was near.
“He felt terror and fright as he did so,” said Mr Muller, but he told police that he would have carried on and killed her if she hadn’t struggled, grabbing Mr Williams and taking the knife off him.
She received a 5cm wound to the abdomen but luckily the weapon missed any major organs.
She fled the house, still in dressing gown and slippers and holding the knife, and went to the Co-operative store nearby to raise the alarm. It was about 8.15am.
Back inside the house Mrs Williams described coming out of the hallway and finding her son holding a baseball bat with two hands, Mr Muller said.
He hit the pensioner around the head causing two wounds of 6cm and 2cm.
“He said he hit his mother with the bat to shut her up,” Mr Muller said, as she was shouting at him when he told her what he had done.
He said the bat was in the house in case of intruders, but unlike with Ms Robinson he had no intention to kill his mother and would not have stabbed her, he told police.
Mrs Williams was able to meet police at the door despite her injuries, he said, and directed them to the kitchen where they found Mr Williams with self-inflicted knife injuries “in what was clearly a concerted effort to take his own life”, Mr Muller said.
The injured were flown by air ambulance to hospitals in Stoke, Birmingham and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital.
Mr Williams, who has been in custody since, was “undoubtedly remorseful” Mr Muller said.
Speaking in defence of Williams, Anthony Potter said a wide range of statements from family, friends and other acquaintances all said the same thing – just how out of character his actions were.
“All of them talk of his gentle nature, his kindness and the help he has provided to other people over many, many years,” he said.
He said a psychiatric assessment had described Williams as suffering a “major depressive episode”.
“He has struggled with what he has done,” he said, adding that he was starting now to accept it.
But, he added: “He continues to suffer nightmares about what he has done. In no sense is he a man who has put this behind him.”
However, Judge Chambers said while it was clear Williams was suffering with severe depression at the time of the incident, he was not judged to have been suffering psychosis.
“Nothing can justify what you did or exonerate your culpability,” he said.
“Both your mother and partner have impressively shown compassion for your state, showing more concern for you then themselves,” he said, though added that, from his involvement in the case, he had not seen evidence of such a degree of concern returned by Williams for his victims.
They may have downplayed the blame on Williams, he said, “but I have to take another view for the sake of the public”.
He said Mr Williams had committed “acts of extreme violence” that had a continued effect on the lives of his victims.
He said while he had undoubtedly struggled with mental health issues, “Fortunately, while in custody you have recovered to the extent that little or no psychiatric care will be required in the future.”
He added that Williams would likely served half the sentence in jail and the rest out on licence.
