A jury has heard how a man allegedly fatally wounded a stranger outside his on/off partner’s flat by deliberately stabbing him once in the abdomen with a large chef’s knife.
Bradford Crown Court heard how 30-year-old Mason Jones died after receiving a 16cm-deep stab wound from a 17.4cm ‘Katto’ knife wielded by John Robinson.
The incident took place at around 9.50am on March 1 this year on Main Street in Burley-in-Wharfedale.
Robinson, 31, of Derry Hill, Menston, denies murder, manslaughter, and having a bladed article in public.
Opening the trial, prosecution barrister David Outterside said: “The prosecution say that the defendant rushed down some stairs, went outside, and joined the confrontation.
“Crucially he had armed himself with his own knife.
“When he got outside, he moved towards Mason Jones and intentionally stabbed him.
“Mason Jones was unarmed from start to finish in this incident.
“The knife penetrated 16cm into Mason Jones’s body. It cut into some vital organs including part of the bowel and ultimately it terminated into the largest vein in the body, the vena cava.
“Mason Jones, having been stabbed, staggered away having been gravely injured, and was given first aid not far away at the scene.
“He was taken to Leeds General Infirmary. However, blood loss was catastrophic. This proved to be a fatal injury. He was confirmed dead at 1pm later that day. He was 30 years old.”
The jury heard that Robinson and his partner Annabel Ramsay had been in an on/off relationship for about three years but on February 28 this year she sent Snapchat messages telling him she didn’t want to be with him and that she wanted to move on with her life.
She spent the evening drinking and taking cocaine at her flat with a female friend and two men, the court heard.
At 2am on March 1, Miss Ramsay sent birthday greetings to a man called Will Clarke, who was out in the Bury area with his friend and work colleague Mason Jones.
Following an exchange of intimate photographs and video calls between Miss Ramsay and Mr Clarke, in which she told him “Ya mate’s sexy”, the two men travelled from Bury to Burley-in-Wharfedale and arrived at her flat at about 6am.
The court heard that Mason Jones had never met Annabel Ramsay, and had certainly not met John Robinson, before that night.
Miss Ramsay and Mr Jones went into her bedroom but emerged when Mr Clarke and the other woman began arguing.
Mr Outterside said: “The whole thing descended into confrontation.
“Annabel Ramsay then got physical with the men and chucked them out of the flat [with] both [her friend] and her pushing them out of the door.”
The two men were left wandering around the village but returned more than once to the flat.
Miss Ramsay later threw her friend out of the flat and made a 14-minute call to Robinson asking him to come to her home.
He immediately took an Uber from his home in Menston, around three miles away, and took with him the chef’s knife, which had his name engraved on the oak handle, the court heard.
Mr Outterside said: “It’s entirely agreed by the defendant that in that uber taxi he had with him his own knife that he had brought to the scene.”
The jury heard that Robinson was at the flat for around 90 minutes before the stabbing, and that he was told there had been trouble between Miss Ramsay and her friend, and Mr Clarke and Mr Jones.
Mr Outterside said: “The prosecution says that having armed himself with this knife, he deliberately stabbed Mason Jones with it to a vital area of the body. We say that when the defendant did this, he plainly intended to cause very serious injury to Mason Jones.
“If you are sure about the things I have just said, [then] that is murder.”
He added: “The defendant will say that although he did leave the address holding the knife, he picked it up in defence of himself and his partner Annabel Ramsay outside the confrontation with Mason Jones.
“He will also say that when he got outside, he was wearing socks and slipped on some mud, causing him to lose his footing and stab Mason Jones to the body.
“His intentions, say the defence, had been motivated by defending someone, and he says the stabbing was a complete accident.
“One of the first and central questions you are going to have to ask yourselves in this trial is: ‘Was the stabbing a deliberate act?’”
The trial continues.
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