A man stabbed a neighbour in a Gloucestershire village 27 times a day after telling a police officer: “I will murder him”, a jury has been told.
Can Arslan, 52, killed father-of-three Matthew Boorman and seriously wounded his wife, Sarah Boorman, as she tried to fight him off, before forcing his way into the home of another neighbour, Peter Marsden, and knifing him eight times.
Bristol crown court heard on Tuesday, March 29 there had been a “long-running” dispute between Arslan and his neighbours, with small rows over parking and a scratch to a car, escalating to the point where Arslan faced eviction and repeatedly threatened to attack or kill those living near him.
Matthew Boorman
Five months before the attacks, which took place in October last year, Sarah Boorman had made a statement to police setting out the threats they had received from the defendant. She said they were worried about being murdered, or that someone was going to be seriously hurt very soon.
Arslan made counter-allegations, accusing the Boormans of racially abusing him. The day before the attack, a police officer had telephoned Arslan about the complaint he had made and the defendant had told him he would murder Boorman.
Arslan has admitted causing grievous bodily harm to Sarah Boorman, who suffered a deep knife wound to her thigh, and the attempted murder of Marsden and affray, but denies murder.
Boorman had just parked outside his house at about 5.20pm on 5 October after returning from work, and was still on a conference call when Arslan stabbed him 27 times.
CCTV images shared by Police
Colleagues on the conference call heard Boorman shout: “What the fuck are you doing?” and Arslan replying: “Fucking want it?” in a “goading” tone. Brunner said: “The defendant appeared calm, smiling as if he was amused by what he was doing.”
A psychiatric assessment found that Arslan was alert and had no psychotic symptoms, the prosecution claims, but the court was told the defence would argue he was in the grip of a psychiatric disorder.
The CCTV shows Arslan walking into his kitchen and then Arslan being forcibly removed – but not before he had stabbed Mr Marsden a total of eight times. The court heard Arslan also had another neighbour in his sights, but was stopped by have-a-go heroes who gathered in the street to corner him until police arrived.
One of the men was off-duty police officer Steve Wilkinson who is seen on camera armed with a piece of wood and hitting Arslan with it to try and stop the attack.
