A man who stabbed his uncle to death and then stole his bank card to go out drinking was convicted of murder. The man went out drinking hours after the attack, using money stolen from Mr. Fletcher’s bank account, and showed little remorse.
Man stabbed his uncle to death, then stole his bank card to go drinking
Steven Arnold, 51, repeatedly plunged a kitchen knife into Michael Fletcher, 66, at the victim’s home in Luton, Bedfordshire, on September 30 last year.
He then threw the knife into a wheelie garbage can and joined his flatmate Barry Gavin, also 51.
Following a trial at the Old Bailey, Arnold was found guilty of murder and Gavin of an alternative charge of manslaughter. The court heard how the pair used the victim’s bank card to withdraw £240 in cash and spent the day drinking together after the murder.
While in a pub, the defendants were seen “raising their glasses to what was a successful plan,” said prosecutor Martin Mulgrew.
A barman also recalled that they donated a total of £60 to a charity collection and bought drinks. When asked how he could afford it, Gavin told the waiter he was “a bit drunk,” the court heard.
Shortly before 7 p.m. that evening, Gavin called the police and reported that Arnold had stabbed Mr. Fletcher. Upon his arrest, Arnold admitted to being responsible for the murder.
He told police that he had visited the victim to apologize for a disagreement when Mr.
Fletcher attacked him with a knife. The defendants, of Butterworth Path, Luton, denied murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter.
Detective Inspector Iain Macpherson, of the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Serious Crime Unit, who led the investigation, said, “We will never understand what made Arnold launch such a sustained and vicious attack on Mr Fletcher.”
“The motive was robbery, but the number and nature of the injuries were disproportionate.”
