‘Road rage killer calm like Jesus as he knifed his victim 39 times’
A RETIRED solicitor pleaded for help as a mentally ill motorist stabbed him 39 times after a minor collision, a court heard yesterday.
Donald Lock, 79, was killed after a driver stopped his vehicle so quickly that the great-grandfather’s car bumped into it.
As Mr Lock approached the other car, the “expressionless” driver, Matthew Daley, beckoned him to come closer. Daley then launched a “ferocious” knife attack, stabbing the pensioner in the head, neck, leg and torso, a jury heard.
Trying to hold Daley in a bear hug, Mr Lock desperately cried for help, as the two men collapsed to the ground.
But the court heard the attack continued, with Daley repeatedly knifing Mr Lock. Horrified witnesses were unable to intervene.
Daley, a 35-year-old farm and stable hand who usually used a knife to dock lambs’ tails, later told police he had been “calm like Jesus” during the attack on the A24 in Findon, West Sussex, last July.
Clenched
He also told officers Mr Lock had cried “like a one-year-old boy, highpitched and girly”. The killer went on to describe the victim as “an old fool,” the court heard.
One witness said Daley, who is now being held in a psychiatric mediumsecure unit, looked like he was “having a passport photo” taken during the attack, totally “expressionless”.
After the stabbing, Daley, who had been upset because his girlfriend had not wanted to see him that day, drove off and abandoned his Ford Fusion.
Daley, from Worthing, West Sussex, went on trial for murder at Lewes Crown Court yesterday. He denies the charge but admits attacking Mr Lock, claiming diminished responsibility.
Prosecuting, Philip Bennetts, QC, said there was no dispute Daley killed Mr Lock. But the trial would focus on if the defendant, who has a history of mental illness, was responsible.
He said: “On July 16 last year, this defendant, Matthew Daley, killed Donald Lock. Matthew Daley braked violently approaching the junction of the A24 in Findon, West Sussex. Donald Lock, who was immediately behind him, collided with his car.”
Mr Lock first asked Daley why he had stopped so suddenly before Daley stabbed him repeatedly, telling the pensioner to “Die, you ******* **** ”, jurors heard.
Mr Bennetts said a psychiatrist for the prosecution would argue that, although on the autistic spectrum, the defendant was responsible.
An assessment from the defence would suggest Daley was a paranoid schizophrenic and not responsible.
There would also be a suggestion from the defence that the defendant had been acting in reasonable lawful self-defence, the court was told.
“This was not a case of reasonable self-defence,” Mr Bennetts said. “He stabbed an unarmed man.”
The jury was told that Daley was failed by his local NHS trust over his mental health. Relatives were “constantly on the case” of clinicians to try to get him treatment, it was said.
And at one point, his desperate father – who attended court yesterday – warned that, if he was not given proper care, he would go on to “hurt someone or worse”, the jury was told.
Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust has since apologised to Daley’s family for having “failed” him in his care and treatment.
Defence counsel David Howker, QC, said it was beyond argument Daley suffered mental health problems.
He was arrested at Worthing Golf Club the day after the attack. His mother, Linda, dialled 999 after her son told her over the phone: “I have killed someone. I want you to think about what I have just said and ring me back in 10 minutes.”
Eye-witnesses later told how terrifying attack had unfolded.
At first thinking the defendant was punching Mr Lock, Andrew Slater tried to challenge Daley, saying: “Come on mate, leave it out.” But he soon realised what was happening.
“He stopped and that’s when I saw he had a knife in his clenched fist.”
Mr Lock, who had recently been given the all-clear from prostate cancer, died at the scene.
The trial continues. the