Murder trial told of man’s fear
Hairdresser says he ran away on night mother-of-three died
A COLLEAGUE of a Scottish hairdresser allegedly murdered by her former lover has told a court he ran away the night she died, fearing he would be hurt.
James Young said he regretted he could not do more to help mother-of-three Katrina O’Hara, who was allegedly stabbed twice by Stuart Thomas.
Mr Young told the court he was closing Jocks Barbers with Ms O’Hara on January 7 when she was approached by former partner Mr Thomas outside the shop. He said he first heard shouts outside then Ms O’Hara ran past saying “he has a knife”.
The jury heard Mr Young fled when he thought Mr Thomas was walking towards him and went to a takeaway shop two doors down from the barber’s to call police, who arrived to find Ms O’Hara dead.
Mr Thomas, a self-employed builder, of Blandford, Dorset, denies murdering Ms O’Hara by stabbing her twice in the chest at Jocks Barbers where she worked, in Blandford. He claims Ms O’Hara stabbed herself after a struggle.
Mr Thomas, 49, is alleged to have followed Ms O’Hara into the barber shop before stabbing her with a kitchen knife he had taken from his marital home. After knifing Ms O’Hara, the married father-of-four is alleged to have left the shop and cut his own left wrist with the same knife.
Mr Young told Winchester Crown Court he approached the back doors of the shop after Ms O’Hara had gone for a cigarette and he could hear a male and female voice.
He said: “The only thing I could hear being said was the man shouting, ‘I just want to talk, I just want to talk’. Katrina was speaking but I couldn’t understand what she was saying. He said, ‘I just want to talk, I just want to talk’ twice in a row.
“She was saying something after that or maybe before, but I couldn’t understand what she was saying because of her Scottish accent. I shouted step away or come away. I said it because she obviously did not want to be there. I don’t know why I said that, that was just what I said at the time.
“I was not thinking along the lines of calming them down, it was just something I said. I shouted and he let her go. I told her to come away, to step away. I didn’t really know what to say.
“I could see there was contact between them. He stood in front with his arms up. It looked to me like she was struggling. “She didn’t have a hold of him. “He was up against her and she had her back to the car.
“When I shouted ‘oi’ he stopped and stepped to the side and faced me. Katrina then ran down past me and he came in the same direction. I didn’t see her when I turned and ran. The man was coming toward me when I turned and ran.”
He added: “When Katrina ran past me, she said, ‘He has got a knife, he has got a knife’.”
The court heard Mr Young called police after running into a pizza shop and using their phone.
He told the 999 call handler there was a man with a knife.
William Mousley, defending Mr Thomas, asked Mr Young: “Do you feel any sense of regret you did not do any more to help Katrina?” Mr Young replied: “Yes”. The trial continues.