Dentist ‘stabbed love rival after finding him in cocaine and alcohol binge with his wife’
A DENTIST knifed his love rival four times after returning home to find the man had been drinking and taking cocaine with his wife, a court was told yesterday.
Phillip Gale, 50, stabbed Andrew Smith in the chest and back then told police, ‘Arrest me, I know what I’ve done’, the jury heard.
It was said Gale later told officers he attacked Mr Smith for giving his wife Jayne Masters cocaine, and asked them: ‘Is that b****** still alive?’
The husband was described as ‘proud and boastful about what he had done’.
Smith was taken to hospital but survived. The dentist, who claims he acted in self-defence, went on trial yesterday accused of attempted murder.
Gale and his wife of 13 years had each had extra-marital affairs and ‘ lived separate lives’. But in the weeks before the attack they had agreed they would not bring lovers back to the house, Preston Crown Court was told.
During a ‘clearing the air conversation’, Miss Masters, 48, had admitted an ongoing relationship to her husband, the jury heard – not with Mr Smith, but with another lover.
Describing the wife’s ‘complicated’ relationship with Mr Smith, Mark Ryan, prosecuting, said: ‘Miss Masters says or suggests the relationship was not sexual, describing them being like two girlfriends, who stayed up talking, drinking and sometimes taking cocaine into the early hours.
‘She was very comfortable with him. She would some- times be with him in her underwear or would go to the toilet in front of him.’
However, as to whether the relationship had been sexual at all, Mr Smith claimed there had been ‘a dabble once or twice’, the court was told.
Mr Ryan added: ‘Phillip Gale strongly objected to this relationship, possibly because of Mr Smith’s habit of taking cocaine and giving cocaine to Miss Masters.
‘Whatever the precise nature of the relationship, everyone seems to agree that they were very close and would be very flirtatious towards each other.
‘Rightly or wrongly, Phillip Gale believed something sexual was going on.’
Giving evidence yesterday Miss Masters said she and Gale had continued to live together ‘as husband and wife’ at their five-bedroom detached house.
‘Just because we didn’t share a bedroom doesn’t mean we didn’t have a marriage,’ she said, adding that they had decided ‘we’ll just be honest to each other so it doesn’t cause any arguments’.
The court heard Gale found his wife and Mr Smith asleep together on the sofas or in her bedroom on a number of occasions when the pair had been drinking into the early hours.
‘My husband didn’t like his lifestyle,’ Miss Masters said. ‘He didn’t like his reputation and that is why he didn’t want him in our home … My husband is a professional person. We had a beautiful home. I blame myself.’
A few days before the attack last October, Gale had withheld his wife’s housekeeping money after discovering she had invited Mr Smith into their home in Foulridge, near Colne, Lancashire, the court heard.
On another occasion, Gale pushed Mr Smith from a dormer roof after catching him trying to climb inside through an upstairs window, it was said.
On October 16, Gale was on a day trip to Blackpool with friends. Miss Masters invited Mr Smith to the house and the pair spent the afternoon drink- ing and taking cocaine, the trial heard – planning that he would leave before Gale returned.
But they lost track of time, and when Gale arrived shortly after 9pm the jury heard he ‘flew into a rage’.
The court was told that when Miss Masters heard her husband at the door, Mr Smith told her: ‘Let him in. I want to know why he doesn’t like me.’
In the kitchen, Gale told Mr Smith to leave, and moments later stabbed him with a carving knife. Mr Smith suffered four wounds – described as lifethreatening. He underwent emergency surgery and spent time in intensive care.
When emergency services arrived they found Gale smoking a cigarette on the sofa while his wife cradled Mr Smith’s head in her hands.
‘Phillip Gale at that time was proud and boastful about what he had done,’ said Mr Ryan.
He added that Gale held his hands in front of him and told officers: ‘Arrest me. I know what I’ve done.’
In custody, he asked: ‘Is that b****** still alive? He was giving my wife cocaine. That’s why I knifed him.’
He later claimed he acted in self-defence. But Mr Ryan said: ‘Although Phillip Gale was seriously provoked … his intention was to kill.’
Cross- examining Mr Smith, Mark Stewart suggested there had been a scuffle and that he had pushed Gale.
Mr Smith said he could not remember a lot of details but recalled that Gale had ‘picked up the knife and asked me to get out of his house’. He said he was leaving when Gale stabbed him in the back.
Gale denies attempted murder and wounding with intent.
The trial continues.
‘Flew into a rage’