23 years’ jail for burglar who stabbed in to death victim in his own bedroom
DAVID WILSON MURDER
A killer who called the police to ask for a lift home after stabbing a stranger to death in his bed will serve at least 23 years behind bars.
Intruder Daniel Johnson stabbed former special police constable David Wilson, 49, seven times at his home in Southwick Road, Sunderland, in the early hours of December 14, 2014 and caused lethal blood loss.
The 21-year-old attacker used his victim’s Samsung E1200 mobile telephone to ring the police as he made his way home after the killing, to ask for a lift from Sunderland to Gateshead.
Mr Wilson’s brutal death remained an unsolved mystery, despite multiple media appeals for information by the police and his grieving family, for more than a year.
It was only after a recording of the bizarre 999 call was made public that a witness contacted the police and revealed the voice was Johnson.
Johnson was arrested in June last year, while serving a 30-month sentence for kidnapping a 12-year-old boy from Felling Metro station so he could take his phone and attack him.
The killer, who has 38 previous convictions, denied murder during a month-long trial but was found guilty by a jury.
Mr Justice Males sentenced him to life behind bars and said he must serve a minimum of 23 years before he can apply for parole.
The judge said Johnson had been in the area of Mr Wilson’s home “looking for opportunities to burgle and steal” and that his attack was “vicious and savage” on a defenceless man.
He added: “It is clear from the defensive injuries to his hands which David Wilson sustained that for at least part of this attack he was awake and conscious of what you were doing to him.
“The victim was in his own bed. He presented no threat to you. It was unnecessary for you to go upstairs to his bedroom in order to commit your burglary.
“Having done so, there was nothing to prevent you from leaving if he woke up and saw you. Instead, you took a knife from the kitchen, which you can only have done with the intention of using it.
“You did use it on a man who, for a short while at least, was conscious of your attack.”
The judge said Johnson, who was only 18 at the time of the murder, has shown no remorse for what he did.
Prosecutor Robert Smith QC told Newcastle Crown Court the killer’s call was made from Mr Wilson’s phone at 4.41 on the morning of the murder.
Mr Smith said: “That telephone call wasn’t made in order to report the incident at Southwick Road or anything connected with it.
“It was, instead, made in an attempt to persuade the police to give the person then using the telephone, the caller, a lift to his home in Gateshead.
“On any view, it was an unusual thing for anyone to do.”
The court heard during the conversation, made from a phone Mr Wilson, who was a dad and grandad, had recently bought, the caller said “I don’t have a clue how I’m getting home. I live in Gateshead.”
He added: “I’ve been to a house party and I’ve missed the last Metro.”
The court heard Johnson, who was living in Mulberry Gardens, Gateshead, had been to a party in Sunderland that night, where he was filmed downing “suicide shots” of tequila through the eye and salt up the nose, and had formerly lived in the city.
Mr Smith told jurors the deadly attack happened when Mr Wilson’s boyfriend Scott Hoyle, 34, had gone out to get a McDonalds and got mugged by Johnson when he got back to their front door.
Mr Hoyle was able to run away from the mugger, who took his keys and forced him to a cashpoint, and went back to the flat with the police but, when he was unable to get an answer, believed Mr Wilson
was still in a deep sleep inside.
The court heard when he got no answer at the door, Mr Hoyle went to hospital and to the police station then picked up some spare keys before returning home.
It was then he found Mr Wilson lying on the bloodsoaked bed.
Mr Smith told the court: “He found him dead in bed, ran from the property and made an emergency call.
“David Wilson’s body was seen in situ by a Home Office pathologist.
“He was on his left side, partially covered by bed clothes and there were blood stains.
“A blood-stained kitchen knife was on the floor by the bed.
“He had seven stab wounds to the head and neck and a number of wounds to the left hand, some superficial cuts.
“The seven stab wounds represent seven separate actions with the knife.
“One deeply penetrating injury, between the ear and neck, cut the main vein and main artery on the right and caused extensive blood loss.
“It is likely David Wilson’s death would have been rapid following infliction of that injury.”
The court has heard during the trial Mr Hoyle was initially arrested on suspicion of murder but no charge was brought against him.
Mr Hoyle gave evidence at Johnson’s trial and told jurors he was in “fits of tears” when he found the body.
He told the court he was in a state of shock when he called 999 for help, after finding Mr Wilson lying with “a lot of blood all over the bed”.
Mr Hoyle said he was in a “very bad state” when paramedics arrived and he found out Mr Wilson was dead.
Mr Wilson’s grieving daughter Tara Wilson spoke in a victim impact statement about the heartbreak the loss of her dad has caused the whole family.
She said her dad, who was a former shopping centre manager and ticket inspector as well as being a special police constable for six years, was a “fun and positive” man.
Miss Wilson said Christmases at her home, with her family and young children, will always be marred by memories of the murder and the fact her dad will not get to see his grandchildren grow up or be there at her forthcoming wedding.
Miss Wilson said her father was “excited” about his relationship with Mr Hoyle and that he had found someone to settle down with.