Man jailed for murder after steak-knife stabbing

A man has been jailed for life after admitting killing a man by stabbing him in the neck with a steak knife.

Ian Jackson-Wynch, 55, was found seriously injured at a flat on Greyfriars in Grantham on 26 January and pronounced dead at the scene.

Carl Copus, 55, pleaded guilty to the murder during a court hearing in Loughborough in July.

He was sentenced to a minimum term of 16 years and 152 days at Lincoln Crown Court earlier.

Pathologist Dr Stuart Hamilton told the court that the victim had 39 external injuries and marks, including two stab wounds, with the fatal wound damaging his jugular vein.

He said some blunt-force injuries were consistent with punches, kicks or being struck with an object, while others could have resulted from falls or collisions with items in the flat.

Passing sentence, Judge James House KC said he accepted there was a lack of intention to kill, but told the defendant he had stabbed Jackson-Wynch in an extremely vulnerable part of his body.

An impact statement from Jackson-Wynch's mother read to the court said she had never known such trauma as the loss of her son.

"Somehow it seemed the wrong way round," she explained.

Following Copus's guilty plea, no evidence was offered against two other men, Billy Mitchell, 43, of no fixed address, and Sean Page, 37, of Tamar Court, Grantham, who had pleaded not guilty to Jackson-Wynch's murder and denied causing any injuries.

The court was told Page and Mitchell left the flat at about 10.35 GMT before Copus called 999 at 11.12 to report that a man was dead inside.

At an earlier hearing, Page was fined after admitting fraudulently using Jackson-Wynch's bank card, while Mitchell was sentenced to six months in prison for possessing a tyre iron as an offensive weapon.

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