STABBING IN PUB ‘AN ACT OF PITILESS SAVAGERY’
COURT TOLD OF ‘SHOCKING’ INCIDENT IN EASTCOTE
A PUB-GOER slashed the neck of a 21-year-old man in an act of “pitiless savagery” then went on the run for more than three years, a court was told.
Shane O’Brien, 31, fatally stabbed Josh Hanson after a brief conversation in RE Bar, in Eastcote, Hillingdon, in October 2015, the Old Bailey heard.
Prosecutor Mark Heywood QC told jurors what took place was “sudden and shocking”.
O’Brien, who was raised in Ladbroke Grove, and Mr Hanson, who was from Kingsbury in Brent, had never met before their paths crossed for a matter of seconds in the bar, jurors were told.
Mr Heywood said: “For reasons that have yet to be fully explained, the defendant stood up and approached the other man.
“As they spoke briefly, with others around them, the defendant reached for his blade and with a single, slashing motion, he used it. He cut his throat. “You will judge for yourselves when you have heard the evidence, but it was an act of pitiless savagery.”
The prosecutor told jurors O’Brien accepted he used the blade to cause Mr Hanson’s death but says he is not “criminally responsible” because he did not mean for it to happen. Earlier, on Saturday October 10, 2015, Mr Hanson had gone to hospital with his girlfriend after her father suffered a suspected heart attack.
They then met up with his cousin and a small group of friends for a drink in RE Bar. About an hour later, O’Brien arrived with three other men, the court was told.
Just after 1am the defendant allegedly approached council worker Mr Hanson and, standing in front of him, asked: “What’s your problem?” Mr Hanson appeared confused but did not react or challenge the defendant, jurors heard. O’Brien was shown in CCTV footage to “surreptitiously” reach for his blade in the pocket of his expensive Canada Goose padded jacket, the court heard.
Mr Heywood said: “This part of it took less than 10 seconds as the CCTV shows. Five to six seconds after he had first reached for it (the blade), the defendant struck. He suddenly raised his right hand, holding the blade, to a level above the head of Josh Hanson.
“He then brought the blade down in a sweeping, slashing motion, aimed at and striking the exposed skin of John Hanson’s ear, neck and chest.
“It was a deliberate, swiping motion, intended to cause, at the very least of it, very serious injury to Josh Hanson with that razor-edged blade – aimed at the vital structures of the neck.”
The jury was shown graphic footage of the moment Mr Hanson was “attacked” in front of his girlfriend.
As blood immediately flowed from a large gash to the neck, O’Brien walked out of the bar, the court heard.
Mr Heywood said the stabbing was “catastrophic” and left a 37cm long gaping incised wound from the victim’s left ear to right chest.
O’Brien fled to a caravan park in Camber Sands, in East Sussex, but was recognised by pub staff at the nearby Camber Castle following a Facebook police appeal, jurors were told.
Before he could be apprehended, O’Brien was flown in a private plane from Biggin Hill Airport to the Netherlands, the court heard.
Despite an international manhunt, O’Brien evaded authorities for years, jurors were told.
O’Brien, a father-of-two, pleaded not guilty to the murder in July.
The trial continues.
It was a deliberate, swiping motion, intended to cause, at the very least of it, very serious injury Prosecutor Mark Heywood