A cowardly killer who chased his unarmed victim into a dead-end alleyway before inflicting a single fatal stab wound has been jailed for at least 22 years for the murder of his former friend. Jamie Scott Mitchell, 25, wrongly thought Steven Wilkinson had smashed a window at his mother's home prompting the fatal pursuit.
Killer Mitchell had been at his mother’s home when he heard a window smash and went out to try and find the person responsible. He claimed he only intended to scare them. He came across Mr Wilkinson – who had nothing to do with the window being broken – on waste ground during the incident on October 4 last year. A jury at Mold Crown Court previously heard Mitchell chased Mr Wilkinson into a blocked alleyway at the Jubilee Court complex in Buckley, Flintshire.
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Mitchell insisted the men had simply “collided” with each other but Mr Wilkinson sustained a six-to-seven-inch stab wound to his chest under his left armpit. The jury of nine men and three women deliberated for two hours and 54 minutes before returning a unanimous verdict of guilty to the count of murder, which Mitchell had denied.
Murderer Mitchell, of Lexham Green Close, Buckley, returned to court on Thursday to be sentenced. Judge Rhys Rowlands told the defendant, who sat in the dock wearing a navy round-necked jumper and trousers, that he held a grudge against his victim who was scared of him. The judge said there was "absolutely no reason or justification" to go out carrying a knife and he chased his victim "quite determined" to cause really serious harm. "This was the tragic and wholly unnecessary loss of a young man's life, which has affected a great many individuals and also the loss of your own future," said Judge Rowlands. He sentenced Mitchell to life in prison and ordered that he must serve a minimum of 22 years behind bars before he can be considered for parole.
During the hearing members of Mr Wilkinson's family read impact statements to the court. His mother Lisa WIlkinson told the court she witnessed the gruesome, painful death of her son in front of her with her own eyes but then broke down in the witness box and said: "I can't do it – sorry," NorthWalesLive reported. Junior prosecutor James Coutts took over reading the statement in which Mrs Wilkinson outlined how she spent 45 minutes pleading with paramedics to save her son's life as they treated him. The carer added that she had been signed off work for six months and was struggling to pay for food and accommodation while she had also made an attempt on her own life.
The victim's grandmother Jeanette Wilkinson said the tragedy had "destroyed" her life and her heart had been "shattered into a million pieces". She said the pain she felt was "excruciating" and she had been left "broken".
During the trial the jury heard that Mark Wright, an emergency medical technician, had arrived at the scene in Buckley at 10.34pm that night to the sound of “shouting and screaming” from onlookers with one crew of medics already there. There were “desperate” attempts to stem the bleeding as chest compressions were carried out. Mr Wilkinson was taken to Wrexham Maelor Hospital’s A&E department. But the patient succumbed to his injuries and he was pronounced dead there at 11.43pm that night.
During the trial witness Jess Wilkinson – the victim’s sister, who was seeing Mitchell – said that after the window had been smashed at Mitchell’s mother’s home he had left and she had hid in a bedroom. Later she heard the front door bang loudly and the sound of metal on metal, which a jury heard was Mitchell dropping the knife into a sink downstairs.
She said Mitchell’s mum asked the defendant: “What have you done?” and Mitchell came up to the bedroom “shaking and looking as if he had just seen a ghost”. He told Miss Wilkinson he had stabbed her brother.
The defence case was that Mitchell had been awoken by Ms Wilkinson to hear his mum “panicking and distressed” after a rock came through the window. She said she had been called a “grass”. Mitchell claimed he picked up the kitchen knife and took it with him in case the rock throwers were armed. He had it in his tracksuit trousers but took it out as it made running easier as he searched for the culprits, he said. The person responsible for breaking the window has been dealt with by the court and there is no suggestion Mr Wilkinson knew anything about it.
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