A man who knifed his neighbour to death and seriously wounded another man after subjecting his local community to years of threats and abuse has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 38 years.
Can Arslan, 52, carried out a reign of terror on the Walton Cardiff estate, near Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, for more than 12 years before he killed Matthew Boorman.
Arslan denied murder, claiming his diagnosis of anti-social personality disorder lessened the offence to one of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, but was convicted after a trial at Bristol Crown Court.
He admitted wounding Mr Boorman’s wife Sarah, whom he stabbed in the leg when she tried to pull him off her husband, and the attempted murder of another neighbour, Peter Marsden.
The victims had been taking legal action against Arslan to try to get him evicted from the estate.
Jailing Arslan for life with a minimum term of 38 years, Mrs Justice Cutts said: “On that afternoon, for no reason at all, you took the life of a decent family man, robbed his children of their father, his wife of her husband, and his mother and siblings of a much-loved son and brother.”
At the time of the killing, Arslan was the subject of an injunction prohibiting him from threatening or abusing his neighbours, and had been served with a notice of eviction.
Small rows over parking and a scratch to a car had escalated to the point where Arslan had repeatedly threatened to attack or kill those living near him. In May, Mr Boorman’s wife had made a statement to police setting out a summary of the threats they had received from the defendant.
Arslan made counter-allegations, accusing the Boormans of racially abusing him. The day before the attack, a police officer had telephoned Arslan about the complaint he had made.
During the call, Arslan verbally abused the officer, calling him a motherf* and told him he would sort his neighbour out himself, adding “I will murder him”.
After his arrest, medics found he was alert and had no psychotic symptoms. At 7.33pm on the night of the murder, he mentioned hearing voices telling him to kill, saying it was the voice of his childhood teddy bear.
It was the first time he had ever made mention of voices, and a forensic psychiatrist said he was sceptical about the claim.
Dr John Sandford told the jury people suffering a psychotic episode or prolonged mental illness will tend to have a “package” of symptoms, including paranoid delusion and auditory and visual hallucinations.
He added: “When you get a voice on its own you are always very sceptical, but when you get a voice on its own after a serious offence you are even more sceptical.”
