Two men charged with Wood End murder

Two men have been charged with the murder of Harold Barnes in Wood End in April.



Father-of-three Mr Barnes, 48, died from a stab wound to the chest after being found outside a house in Hillmorton Road at around midnight on April 20.

He died later in hospital.

Joseph Bourne (right of picture) 36, of no fixed address and Darren Dalton (left) 31, of Bell Green Road, Bell Green were arrested at 8pm on Friday (May 13) near Nauls Mill House in Radford.

Both were interviewed by police and charged late on Saturday night.

They will appear at Coventry Magistrates Court on Monday morning (May 16).

Man who stabbed Wood End dad to death jailed for eight years

A MAN who stabbed a devoted dad to death over a £10 debt has been jailed for eight years after admitting manslaughter.

Darren Dalton, 33 had gone round to Harold Barnes’s home in Hillmorton Road, Wood End, to confront him about the debt, on April 20 last year.

A second man, Joseph Bourne, 37, was with Dalton.

When Mr Barnes came out of his property armed with a knife and table leg a fight ensued.

Mr Barnes temporarily knocked Mr Bourne out with the table leg before grappling with Dalton, of Bell Green Road, Bell Green.

Eventually the older man dropped the knife and Dalton picked it up, stabbing Mr Barnes in the chest.

Dalton and Mr Bourne ran off while Mr Barnes walked back to his apartment - unaware of the severity of his injury.

He eventually collapsed and was rushed to hospital, but died a few hours later from blood loss.

Dalton dragged Mr Bourne away from the scene of the attack and the pair hid out for weeks, until a tip off led police to a caravan in Radford.

The pair were charged with murder but just two days into their trial at the crown court at Leamington a key prosecution witness refused to give evidence.

Dalton pleaded guilty to manslaughter and after the prosecution chose to offer no evidence against Mr Bourne, he was found not guilty.

Jailing Dalton for eight years in prison Judge Richard Griffiths-Jones told him that Mr Barnes’s death had been “catastrophic” for his family.

“At some stage during the fight a knife dropped on the ground,” he said. “You had a choice at that point whether or not to use that knife.

“You made the wrong choice. The public are particularly concerned about the use of knives in fights.

“It’s all too common and too often the consequences are catastrophic.”

Dalton, a father of four, has a lengthy criminal record for a variety of offences including affray, violent disorder, criminal damage and kidnapping.

Michael Wolfkind QC, defending, said his client was “not especially intelligent” and had left school without a single qualification to his name.

Mr Barnes, whose daughter is now five, had drugs in his system after his death, and family said his life was punctuated by substance abuse.

But Judge Griffiths-Jones said: “For all his faults he was a caring intelligent man with a love of life.

“He was a devoted father to his daughter and a good friend to his friends and family.”