Monster next door
Jailed for 38 years, man who killed neighbour in knife frenzy
A KILLER neighbour was branded ‘the monster next door’ by his victim’s widow yesterday as he was jailed for at least 38 years.
Can Arslan, 52, lay in wait for Matthew Boorman to return from work before attacking him in what was the culmination of 12 years of threats to residents of their village street.
Mr Boorman was stabbed 27 times last October during an attempted ‘massacre’ by Arslan – a day after the neighbour from hell had warned a police officer he would kill 43-year-old Mr Boorman.
After killing Mr Boorman on his front lawn in front of one of his three children, Arslan repeatedly stabbed another neighbour – who survived – before other residents cornered him.
Arslan was pursued by an off-duty police sergeant, Stephen Wilkinson, who had armed himself with a piece of wood.
The brave officer was caught on CCTV striking Arslan with the plank. Neighbours then helped contain the suspect until officers arrived to detain him.
When police officers arrived, he was filmed laughing as he boasted that he had warned their colleagues a year earlier that he was ‘gonna murder’ Mr Boorman, who worked for an aircraft engineering company.
In a victim impact statement read to the judge yesterday, Sarah Boorman – who suffered a leg wound as she tried to save her husband’s life – referred to Arslan throughout as the ‘monster next door.’
She described Mr Boorman as a ‘fantastic father... he was my soul mate, my partner in life raising our beautiful children’.
Mrs Boorman, 39, added: ‘We were an amazing team. He was a good, honest, kind man. As for the monster next door, we do not mention his name and we do not want to.
‘Before (Matthew) was killed, the man next door made our lives a misery for years.
‘Every time we went out he would pretend to phone a hitman and threatened us. It felt like being in the middle of a war zone – we were always on edge about what was about to kick off.’
She described watching her husband being ‘brutally and savagely attacked’ as she walked out to greet him, adding that their children have needed therapy to cope with what they saw.
‘They don’t understand why a bad man wanted to hurt their daddy,’ Mrs Boorman added. ‘What I and my 12-year-old son witnessed that day will haunt us for as long as we live. Every day I wake up and my heart shatters more. I hear him saying “no” as he was being stabbed and I see the man next door sitting on his body, laughing at me.’ Bristol Crown Court heard that Arslan was motivated by ‘anger and revenge’ because his neighbours in Walton Cardiff, near Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, had been trying to evict him for making their lives a misery.
He was found guilty of murder after a jury rejected his partial defence of diminished responsibility at a trial in April.
Mrs Justice Johannah Cutts told him the peace and lives of the entire community were ‘shattered when your anger, resent and rage exploded into a spree of planned violence’. She added: ‘You have shown no guilt or remorse about Mr Boorman’s death. You have continued to utter threats from prison. Without doubt you are a highly dangerous man.
‘For no reason at all you took the life of a decent family man.’
Prosecutor Kate Brunner QC told the court the defendant had a long history of tormenting his neighbours – a wave of aggression which started with a dispute about parking.
Over 12 years he threatened to rape and kill, would shine torches in their homes and speak loudly of a massacre.
She described October’s attacks as ‘targeted and planned’ in ‘revenge against people following lawful process to resolve longstanding issues’.
At the end of the trial in April, Mr Boorman’s family criticised police and other authorities for their ‘toothless and ineffective’ response to Arslan.
Mr Boorman’s sister Sarah Elston said: ‘In the years that preceded Matthew’s death, multiple agencies and authorities were warned of the threat this man posed.’
The police watchdog is investigating Gloucestershire Police.
‘Brutally and savagely attacked’