A burglar who was fatally stabbed by a pensioner had recently used both heroin and cocaine, an inquest has revealed.
Henry Vincent entered the property of 79-year-old Richard Osborn-Brooks with an accomplice in the early hours of April 4 last year. A struggle ensued and Vincent died after being stabbed.
Osborn-Brooks was held by police on suspicion of murder after the incident but later released without further charge.
Pathologist Simon Poole, who carried out the post mortem on Vincent, said in a statement the toxicology report indicated “a recent use of both cocaine and heroin”.
He added Vincent “may have been experiencing the effects” of the drugs at the time of the raid.
The cause of death was given as an incised wound to the chest.
In a statement given to police, Osborn-Brooks said two men knocked on his door and after he opened it he was pushed inside, the inquest heard.
In an audio recording played to the hearing, Osborn-Brooks was heard saying to police officers: “I grabbed that knife out of the knife block and I threatened him with it... he yelled up to his mate ‘he’s got a knife’.
“His mate had a sharp thing in his hand, afterwards I realised it was a screwdriver... I said ‘mine’s bigger than yours’.
“He said ‘come near me and I’ll stab you’.
“He came toward me with the screwdriver... I just put the knife forward.”
Osborn-Brooks could be heard saying: “It went in about four inches.”
Osborn-Brooks said after he grabbed the largest kitchen knife from a six-knife holder, Vincent’s accomplice fled out the front door.
The pensioner said Vincent then came down the stairs and brandished a screwdriver and said “get out of my way or I’ll stick you with this”.
Senior coroner Andrew Harris, reading Osborn-Brooks’s police statement to him, said: “You said ‘I think you’re wrong because mine’s bigger than yours and if you don’t leave my house you will be sorry’.”
Osborn-Brooks, who gave evidence from behind a screen via a video-link, said: “I was just showing him that the knife I had was actually bigger than the screwdriver. So if he was to lunge at me he would hit my knife rather than hit me first.
“I thought he would look at my knife and see it is bigger than his implement and he would take the opportunity to run out the front door which was open.
“My intention was to get him out of the house and away from my wife.
“I still think that Mr Vincent rushes forward intending to do me harm and he ran into the knife that I was holding between us.
“He definitely didn’t try to get out of the front door, he came towards me.”
Tensions between the burglar’s family and residents and supporters of Osborn-Brooks escalated after flowers laid opposite the house were repeatedly torn down and replaced, forcing mounted police to patrol the area.
Rosie Vincent, the sister of Henry, told the hearing: “My brother was not a violent person. He was a father, he was a son, he was a brother.
“No one deserves to die.”
Asked what she wanted to come out of the proceedings, she replied: “Will we ever truly understand?”