A dad-of-four was stabbed to death in front of his teenage children by his nephew.
Joshua Morgan stabbed his uncle, Paul Morgan, two times after his family had come over to celebrate his 21st birthday. Liverpool Crown Court heard that Morgan had rejected a hug from his uncle before following him across Prince William Street, in Dingle, and launching the attack in September 2020.
Jailing Morgan for life Judge David Aubrey, QC, said, “You had a love-hate relationship with your uncle. Tragically you had lost your father when young and thus your uncle became somewhat of a father figure to you.
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"However you appeared to show some resentment and jealousy towards your cousins - they had a father, you did not. There was something festering inside you.”
A court heard on Monday that Joshua harboured resentment and jealousy towards the victim’s children as his own father died when he was just nine years old. He had killed himself and the anniversary of his death had been just the day before the murder.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that the defendant had previously threatened to kill his uncle but the day before the killing they had happily played pool together and on the day itself Mr Morgan sent him a Facebook message saying, ‘Happy Birthday, bro love you lad.’
The defendant had been struggling with his mental health but it has only been since the tragedy that he has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and cannabis dependency disorder. However Judge Aubrey said a psychiatrist found that the offence was unrelated to his illness.
He said: “I am satisfied there is no causal link between your mental illness and that which you did that day which was borne out of anger and animosity towards your uncle, which was long standing,"
Judge Aubrey said that Morgan had taken the knife with him from his home and after following his uncle across the road stabbed him twice, once in the back, causing massive fatal bleeding. He said: "He was in no position whatsoever to defend himself and I am satisfied that you had a complete indifference to the outcome.
"He was at the time defenceless and hopelessly vulnerable. You killed your uncle in front of some of his children.
"That moment or seconds will live with them for the rest of their lives and it is an aggravating factor the court must take into account.”
Imposing a minimum jail sentence of 17 years he added: “The court cannot be satisfied it was your intention to kill your uncle.”
He pointed out that after the killing Morgan claimed he had been acting in self-defence. “That was a lie and a lie you persisted in.”
Morgan, of Prince William Street, Dingle - who showed no emotion at all during the hearing - had pleaded guilty on the day his trial had been due to begin. He has been on remand at The Spinney mental health unit in Manchester and was accompanied in the dock by three members of staff.
Richard Pratt, QC, prosecuting, said that on the afternoon of the tragedy, September 19, 2020, Mr Morgan, 39, and his partner Lisa Robinson, who lived opposite his nephew, went over to his home for his birthday party. He was not in a good mood and was not happy with the music being played by the younger children.
Mr Morgan tried to give him a hug but he reacted by barging him with his shoulder and so he left say "you know what lad, don’t wanna know".
His eldest son said the defendant grinned at him before he ran out of the door after his dad. He heard his cousin’s mum shout, “Josh, no”.
He went out and when his dad was on the inside of his gate, closing it, he saw his cousin pull a knife out of his pock and ‘hit’ him with it. Mr Pratt added: “He then describes how he disarmed the defendant of the knife and saw as his father lifted up his top to reveal a big wound and shortly afterwards, he collapsed on the floor. “
Mr Pratt said that during the stabbing Mr Morgan tried to disarm his attack and to protect his son. He said: “Family members made all efforts they could to stem the bleeding and keep Paul conscious and in due course the ambulance arrived.”
Mr Pratt said that by the time his partner ran out he was shouting, ‘You’ve stabbed me, you’ve stabbed me.” The victim’s 15-year-old daughter also saw the stabbing and heard her dad saying to Morgan, ‘what are you doing?”
The victim was taken to Aintree hospital where emergency surgery was undertaken to try to resuscitate him but he was pronounced dead at 6.16 pm. When arrested at the scene Morgan claimed the victim had produced a knife and he took it off him and stabbed him.
Mr Pratt said: “And so 30 minutes or so after he has stabbed his uncle, the defendant hatched a plan to try and exculpate himself – by falsely alleging that it was Paul who had the knife and that he had been able to disarm him."
A pathologist found that the fatal wound to his chest had penetrated eight centimetres through his sternum and cutting a major blood vessel and would have required severe force to inflict. Mr Pratt said that one of the psychiatrists who examined the defendant found,
He added: “Although probably unwell at the time of the offence, there is little to link his mental illness to the offence. This is a case where it appears the defendant was mentally ill at the time of an offence, but the offence is unrelated to the signs or symptoms of his mental illness.”
Peter Finnegan QC, defending, said that Morgan, who is now 22, has no previous convictions and had written a letter to the judge. He has expressed genuine remorse and recognises the impact of his offending.
Mr Finnegan said that he had been “behaving oddly” and had had mental health problems for some time and he and his family had tried to get him diagnosed and treated but it had not happened. At the time he was suffering from delusions and hallucinations and heard “commanding voices which essentially told him that people were out to get him."
Mr Finnegan said that Morgan said that the voice were speaking to him before, during and after the attack. He said: “There can be no doubt he was very unwell when this happened.”
He has now been diagnosed and is being treated and is compliant and wants to get better. “He wants to get better and make something of his life.”
Mr Finnegan added: “He has taken a life and ruined the lives of others and ruined his own life.”
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