Hot tub horror as maniac goes on rampage
INTRUDER THREATENED TO KILL COUPLE AS THEY BATHED
A COUPLE relaxing in their hot tub had their peace shattered when confronted by a maniac who said he was going to kill them.
Ian Bilson appeared during a drunken rampage that saw him attack and threaten to kill neighbours.
The woman said: “I was absolutely terrified he was going to kill us.”
A COUPLE relaxing in their hot tub had their peace shattered when confronted by a violent maniac who said he was going to kill them.
Alcoholic warehouse worker Ian Bilson appeared in their Derbyshire garden during a “drunken delusional” rampage which saw him attack and threaten to kill neighbours.
The son of a retired police officer, he first lashed out at the husband and then the wife. After assaulting them, he drunkenly staggered up the street and attacked a female neighbour.
When two more people came to intervene in that assault, the defendant took up what Derby Crown Court was told was a “Kung Fu” stance before being wrestled to the ground and pinned there until police arrived.
When Derbyshire police arrested Bilson, he had a folding lock knife in his pocket and when questioned claimed he could not remember a thing about what happened as he was so drunk. Now he is receiving his first taste of jail at the age of 45.
Sending him to prison for 16 months, Judge Nirmal Shant QC said:
“It is not difficult to see how frightening this would have been.
“They were enjoying the sunshine relaxing in their hot tub and you, a total stranger, appeared in their garden. They got out and challenged you and you attacked them. It was an invasion of somebody’s home and you used violence, lashing out at them.
“You repeatedly told them you were going to kill them. But it did not stop there because you then left that property and moved on to a neighbour who says you have been a nuisance for some time.
“There was an altercation with her, you were flailing your arms about and they connected with her.
“Another neighbour intervened and your were not deterred by that either because you stood in a Kung Fu-type stance uttering more death threats.”
Laura Pitman, prosecuting, said Bilson’s bizarre behaviour took place in Oaklands Close, Denby Village, on the evening of July 12.
He said the husband and wife were in their hot tub when the defendant, who neither of them recognised, appeared in their garden.
Miss Pitman said: “The defendant suddenly appeared in their garden, they said they had never seen him before in their lives.
“They asked him what he was doing, he was stumbling around and entered their home so they jumped out of the hot tub and went into their living room where the defendant repeatedly made threats to kill the husband.
“The defendant’s arms were flailing about and he punched the husband to the face. The wife told him she had called police and he caught her to the face with his fist as well.”
Miss Pitman said after leaving that address he then assaulted a female neighbour.
She said: “When a third neighbour came out of his home to see what was happening the defendant said to him ‘do you want to play?’ and then jumping into a Kung Fu fighting stance saying ‘I’m going to kill you.’
Miss Pitman said a fourth neighbour appeared and Bilson was grappled to the floor and held there until the police arrived.
She read out part of a victim impact statement made by the couple he first attacked.
In it the wife said: “I was absolutely terrified he was going to kill us. We had no idea who this man was, what or who he was looking for.
“I have broken down, I just keep thinking about what could have happened to us.”
Bilson pleaded guilty to three counts of common assault, making threats to kill, using insulting words or behaviour and possession of a bladed article.
Gareth Gimson, for Bilson, said his client has no previous convictions of any kind. He said his father is a former police officer and his brother is a counsellor for the NHS.
Mr Gimson said: “He has had a drink problem for the best part of 20 years, he had been furloughed from his job, his partner is American and is stuck there because of the pandemic and he suffers depression and anxiety.
“On this day all of this led to a perfect storm for this 45-year-old man who got into a drunken delusional state and events snowballed from there.”