In the wrong place at the wrong time
Lawyer killed by screwdriver thug who’d notched up 31 crimes aged 17
A 17-YEAR-OLD thug with a history of violence murdered a lawyer with a stolen screwdriver during a chance encounter in a shopping centre.
Victim Peter Duncan, 52, was ‘simply in the wrong place at the wrong time’, a court has heard.
He raised his arm to let the teenager past – to which the youth took exception – and a struggle followed in which Mr Duncan was fatally stabbed in the heart.
The serial criminal, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was on bail for affray when he stabbed the devoted father of two with a screwdriver he had stolen earlier that day.
It can now be revealed that the teenager – said by neighbours to be a drug user – already had 17 convictions for 31 offences, including battery, criminal damage and threatening with a bladed article after he chased his mother down the street with a knife.
Yesterday he pleaded guilty, via a videolink from HMP Wetherby in West Yorkshire, to murder, stealing screwdrivers from Poundland and possessing an offensive weapon.
Mr Duncan, who worked as a solicitor for a multi-national maritime firm, was on his way home when he came into contact with the youth in Newcastle upon Tyne on August 14.
They were walking in opposite directions at the entrance to the Eldon Square shopping mall, close to a Greggs bakery.
The teenager was looking for another youth with whom he had argued about cigarettes.
At a previous hearing, prosecutor Kevin Wardlaw said: ‘They came into contact inadvertently. The deceased raised his arm to let the defendant get past. It is captured on CCTV footage.
‘The defendant took exception to that, took hold of the deceased and a struggle ensued. The deceased managed to push the defendant away, at which point the defendant stabbed the deceased, a single blow, with a screwdriver which pierced his heart.
‘The deceased was able to walk away from the scene, a short distance, before the effects of the injury took effect and he collapsed to the floor. The wound proved fatal.’ Mr Wardlaw added: ‘The crown’s case is simply the deceased having been in the wrong place at the wrong time.’ The youth wore headphones for yesterday’s hearing, which was linked to Leeds Crown Court, where the judge and prosecution barrister were sitting, and to Newcastle Crown Court, where his defence barrister was present.
He will be sentenced in December after psychiatric reports are prepared, and was further remanded Mr Duncan in lived custody in the yesterday. Benton area of Newcastle. After the senseless attack, his family spoke of their heartbreak, saying in a statement: ‘Peter was a kind and caring man who was always first to help others. He was a devoted father, husband, son, brother, uncle and friend and loved by all who knew him.
‘His death will leave such a huge hole in our lives and he’ll be deeply missed by us all.’
After yesterday’s hearing, Detective Chief Inspector Jane Fairlamb, from Northumbria Police, said: ‘This was a shocking incident in which a muchloved family man was murdered in an unprovoked attack after a chance encounter.’
The court was told that at the time he killed Mr Duncan, the youth was on bail for affray after pleading guilty in May to punching and pinning down a teenager so another youth could stab him in his Achilles tendon.
On another occasion he threatened a bus driver with a fiveinch knife after he was challenged about drinking alcohol.
He also grabbed a knife during a family argument and chased his mother down the street outside their home in Newcastle.
A neighbour who witnessed it said: ‘She was stood in the street crying in her pyjamas in the rain as he smashed up the place inside.’
Another said: ‘He’s been nonstop trouble for years now. He’s just a nasty little thug. We have had the armed response here because he’s barricaded himself in the house before and threatened to stab his mother.
‘I’m not surprised, the amount of drugs he smokes.’
‘He’s just a nasty little thug’