A volunteer farmhand who stabbed a retired solicitor 39 times after a minor car crash said the pensioner was “crying like a one-year-old boy” as he died, a court has heard.
Matthew Daley, 35, stabbed Don Lock, 79, repeatedly in the head, throat, back and leg after the victim left his car to inspect the damage and ask why the other driver had stopped so suddenly, Lewes crown court heard yesterday.
Mr Lock, who had recently celebrated his 55th wedding anniversary and the news that his wife had been given the all-clear from cancer, was driving home from a cycling meeting when his Toyota went into the back of a Ford Fusion at a junction with the A24 in Findon, West Sussex.
Mr Daley, who has a long history of mental health problems, had left Rogers Farm in Findon where he volunteered to look after goats. He admits stabbing the great-grandfather, who died at the scene, but denies murder.
One witness said that when the victim fell to the ground, Mr Daley stopped to look around and was so expressionless that he looked as though he was “having a passport photo taken”.
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Police said that the two cars were travelling at about 16mph when Mr Daley’s Ford Fusion made the sudden stop, causing Mr Lock to hit the back of his car. Both vehicles suffered minor damage. Philip Bennetts, QC, for the prosecution, said that Mr Daley told police officers that “he had been very calm and generally not too bothered about the whole incident”.
“He said that he remained calm, in his words, like Jesus Christ,” Mr Bennetts told the jury, adding that the defendant told an officer that Mr Lock was “crying like a one-year-old boy, high-pitched and girly”. Mr Daley said he had “turned to him and said, ‘Die, you f***ing c***’, ” the court heard.
He drove off and dumped his car at a nearby stables where he kept a pony and changed into his running clothes, getting rid of his boots and underpants and putting the knife in his bag. He ran to his friend’s house, saying that he had no petrol in the car.
With the help of his mother, who feared that her son had been involved in the stabbing, officers from Sussex police found Mr Daley the next day sitting on the grass at Hill Barn golf club in Worthing. He had a knife in his bag.
The court heard that his mother had attended a police station in Worthing where she called her son and asked him if he had done something wrong, to which he replied: “I have done something really bad. I killed someone. I want you to think about what I just said and call me back in 10 minutes.”
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Mr Daley has an autistic spectrum disorder with episodes of psychosis in which he hears voices. The court heard that his relatives had been “constantly on the case” of clinicians to try to get him the treatment he needed.
At one point, his desperate father had said that if his son was not given proper care, he would “hurt someone or worse”.
David Howker, QC, for the defence, said that Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has apologised to Mr Daley’s family for having “failed” him in his care and treatment.
The defence will rely on expert witnesses who will claim that Mr Daley’s belief that he had been defending himself was mistaken due to his mental health problems.
The prosecution added that in a conversation with his sister, Rebecca, Mr Daley said he had been driving when “this old fool came up behind him”.
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Mr Daley, formerly of Worthing, will claim self-defence and diminished responsibility, Mr Bennetts said.
The court was told that Mr Daley had been having relationship problems and a text message sent to his girlfriend was read out in court.
The trial, before Mr Justice Singh, is expected to last two weeks.