A man who stabbed his neighbour 27 times after subjecting him to years of threats and abuse has been found guilty of murder.
Can Arslan, 52, lay in wait for father-of-three Matthew Boorman and attacked the 43-year-old as he walked towards his front door after returning from work on the afternoon of October 5 last year.
The killing was the culmination of 12 years of threats from Arslan against his neighbours in Walton Cardiff, near Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, many of whom had installed expensive security systems, Bristol Crown Court heard.
Mr Boorman’s wife Sarah suffered a deep wound to her leg as she tried to pull the defendant off her husband, and the attacker then forced his way into the home of Peter Marsden and knifed him eight times.
Mr Marsden's family have criticised the police and authorities for their “toothless and ineffective” response to the danger he posed.
The murder and subsequent threats and attacks were caught in graphic detail on the neighbourhood’s many CCTV and doorbell cameras installed by anxious residents.
Still from CCTV issued by Gloucestershire Police of Can Arslan at the home of Peter Marsden in Walton Cardiff, near Tewkesbury with off-duty officer, Sergeant Steve Wilkinson (left).
Gloucestershire Police
Arslan admitted the attempted murder of Mr Marsden, causing grievous bodily harm to Mrs Boorman, and a charge of affray, but denied murder.
Instead, he claimed the charge he should face for killing Mr Boorman was manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
On Tuesday, a jury unanimously convicted him of murder after a day of deliberations.
During the trial, the court heard that Arslan was not mentally ill or in the grip of psychosis, but that he has been diagnosed with a personality disorder.
It manifested itself in extreme anger and aggression to perceived insults, making grandiose claims about himself and an exaggerated sense of his own importance.
The defence argued that Arslan’s personality disorder is in itself an abnormality of mental function and therefore provided a defence to murder.
Trial judge Mrs Justice Cutts said she wanted a further psychiatric report prepared on Arslan before she would sentence him.
She told him: “I am not going to sentence you today; I am going to sentence you on June 9 when I will have an additional report on you.
“In the meantime you will remain in Broadmoor.”
At the time of the killing, Arslan was the subject of an injunction prohibiting him from threatening or abusing his neighbours, and had been served with a notice of eviction.
Small rows over parking and a scratch to a car had escalated to the point where Arslan had repeatedly threatened to attack or kill those living near him.
Still from CCTV issued by Gloucestershire Police of Can Arslan (left) going to the home of Peter Marsden in Walton Cardiff, near Tewkesbury and being followed by off-duty officer, Sergeant Steve Wilkinson.
Gloucestershire Police
In May, Mrs Boorman had made a statement to police setting out a summary of 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.
The day before the attack, a police officer had telephoned Arslan about the complaint he had made.
During the call, Arslan verbally abused the officer, calling him a motherf***** and a c**********, and told him he would sort his neighbour out himself, adding “I will murder him”.
After his arrest, the defendant claimed to have taken an overdose of opiate-based medication including diazepam, but a hospital assessment found he was not on any kind of drug.
Medics found that he was alert and had no psychotic symptoms.
While in hospital, Arslan was interviewed by police and made comments about stabbing his neighbours, and referred to his impending eviction and his life being ruined.
At 7.33pm on the night of the murder, he mentioned hearing voices telling him to kill, saying it was the voice of his childhood teddy bear.
Still from CCTV issued by Gloucestershire Police of Can Arslan (left) going to the home of Peter Marsden in Walton Cardiff, near Tewkesbury and being followed by off-duty officer, Sergeant Steve Wilkinson
Gloucestershire Police
It was the first time he had ever made mention of voices, and a forensic psychiatrist said he was sceptical about the claim.
Dr John Sandford told the jury that people suffering a psychotic episode or prolonged mental illness will tend to have a “package” of symptoms, including paranoid delusion and auditory and visual hallucinations.
He added: “When you get a voice on its own you are always very sceptical, but when you get a voice on its own after a serious offence you are even more sceptical.”
In a second police interview, Arslan claimed not to remember the killing or the attacks on Mrs Boorman and Mr Marsden.
But in an assessment with Dr Sandford, he claimed he had no memory of the event but also that he had acted reasonably by killing Mr Boorman.
Dr Sandford said: “There is nothing to suggest that this man is mentally ill or disordered in some way; he is doing a series of purposeful acts that are goal-directed.”
Speaking after the verdict, Mr Boorman’s sister Sarah Elston said: “We will never be the same without him, but as we move forward and learn how to cope without him, we fight in his name to expose not only the malice and cruelty of the man that did this, but also the failings in the system that let this happen.
“In the years that preceded Matthew’s death, multiple agencies and authorities were warned of the threat that this man posed not only to Matthew, but to many other neighbours who were threatened and harmed by him.
“Although Matthew’s murder has shocked us all to the core, the incident was not remotely out of the blue.
“The police and other authorities had been told about how dangerous this man was, the threats he made, and the risks he presented.
“The response was toothless and ineffective, even when the defendant himself told the police he was going to murder Matthew.
“That conversation took place on October 4, the night before Matthew died. He was not even warned.
“Matthew was not this man’s only victim on that dreadful evening, but he was the only one with the misfortune to pay the high price of his life.
“But Matthew’s story must not end here. We must all ask ourselves why this was able to happen, and how things were ever allowed to get this far. Mistakes were made.
“They must be acknowledged, truly learned from, and must never be repeated.”
Can Arslan who knifed his neighbour 27 times after subjecting him to years of threats and abuse has been found guilty of murder
