Saturday 9 July 2016


Life term for mentally-ill man who stabbed retired solicitor 39 times after minor car collision

Matthew Daley court case
Matthew Daley (left) knifed Donald Lock 39 times
A man has been jailed for life with a minimum of 10 years over the road rage killing of a 79-year-old in West Sussex.
Matthew Daley, 35, knifed Donald Lock 39 times after the pair were involved in a minor car collision on the A24 at Findon, near Worthing, on July 16 last year.
Mr Lock crashed into the back of Daley's Ford Fusion at about 16mph, causing minor damage to both cars.
The accident happened after Mr Lock had to brake suddenly after Daley made an emergency stop.
Mr Lock, a retired solicitor who had recently been given the all-clear from prostate cancer, died at the scene as Daley drove off.
Daley was convicted of manslaughter but cleared of murder in May.
The trial heard that Daley had been wrongly diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome and instead had an underlying paranoid schizophrenic illness that went undiagnosed for years.
Relatives of Mr Lock said failings by the NHS Trust responsible for Daley's mental health care had allowed him to kill.
On the court's steps, Mr Lock's son Andrew Lock, said: "Today's sentencing doesn't bring dad back, it doesn't remove from our memories what happened on that horrific night.
"However at least we can move on knowing that the public are property protected from a man who, whilst badly treated by the NHS through a catalogue of failures, is a danger to the public if not supervised and properly medicated."
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust apologised to Daley's family, admitting its care of him "should have been better".
Trust chief executive Colm Donaghy said: "We got things wrong. But I do not believe that any of our staff acted in a way which was deliberately negligent or designed to cause harm.
"They knew Mr Daley well and believed they were doing the right things to help him. We will do things differently as a result of this tragic incident."
Daley will be held in a medium-secure psychiatric hospital under the Mental Health Act. He could be moved to a prison at a later date.
Sentencing Daley, the judge said: "It's clear from the verdict that the defendant's responsibility for the homicide was substantially impaired.
"It does not follow that it was completely extinguished."

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