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Apprentice jailed for killing shopkeeper
7 Oct 2009A shopkeeper stabbed to death at his premises mouthed the name of his killer with his dying breath, a court heard today.
David Stoute, 54, was knifed repeatedly by his apprentice, Dominic Ryan, at the Hornsey Metal Works in north London in September last year.
Ryan mistakenly believed that his mother, Dolores Ryan, was having an affair with the married father, the Old Bailey was told.
It was Mrs Ryan, a neighbour, who found Mr Stoute dying and to whom he mouthed the word "Dominic".
Her 21-year-old son was locked up indefinitely today after he denied murder but admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.
Prosecutors accepted the plea after psychiatrists agreed that he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia.
David Waters QC, prosecuting, told the court that Mr Stoute was found by Mrs Ryan slumped over his work bench and bleeding heavily after being stabbed in the neck, arm and groin.
"In a dying declaration made to her, Mr Stoute identified his attacker as 'Dom' or 'Dominic'," said Mr Waters.
Emergency services were called but he died before reaching hospital.
The court heard that Ryan worked part-time at the shop while also studying the metal work trade at college.
He grew suspicious of the closeness between his mother and his boss, who had known each other from church and had been friends for 30 years.
Mr Waters said Mr Stoute was "happily married" and there was no evidence of any sexual relationship between him and the killer's mother.
But he added: "Even though that was the case, it was the perception which was perhaps more important than reality in the context of this case."
Ryan later told his mother "I don't know why I did it" and also "that his head was hurting and had been for a while", said Mr Waters.
His family had recently noticed that he was acting strangely and his mother had taken him to the Whittington Hospital on September 9, six days before he killed Mr Stoute, the court heard, when he complained of headaches.
A psychiatric report said he had "an unclear preoccupation regarding the relationship between the victim and his mother".
Judge Stephen Kramer described Mr Stoute as a "much-loved husband and father" as he ordered Ryan to be detained indefinitely under mental health legislation.
