A man stabbed a former friend and then ran away leaving his victim with a fatal injury, a jury at Lincoln Crown Court was told on Monday.
Paul Bodell is alleged to have used “severe force” when he stabbed Paul Barnett, 45, during an incident in Grosvenor Road, Skegness.
Andrew Vout QC, prosecuting, told the jury that the two men were former friends who had fallen out with each other before the fatal incident in September 2020.
Mr Vout said: “Paul Bodell stabbed Paul Barnett with such ferocity that the knife went through the left side of his chest, damaged his ribs, went through his lung, went through one of the arteries emerging from Mr Barnett’s heart and entered into and damaged his spinal bones.
“Having inflicted this terrible wound Paul Bodell ran away disposing of his knife as he ran. Within minutes Paul Barnett would be dead.
“Paul Bodell had been seeking a confrontation with Paul Barnett for some days before. You are going to hear that Paul Bodell provoked and provoked and provoked Paul Barnett until he had him out in the street ready for a confrontation.”
Police put a cordon in place on Grosvenor Road in Skegness. | Photo: John Byford
Mr Vout said that after the pair initially clashed in the street Bodell returned to his home and picked up an 18cm bladed knife from the kitchen worktop.
“He concealed this awful weapon up his sleeve. He then calmly sauntered out of his home into the street. Once there he encouraged Paul Barnett to follow him to a location where there weren’t any cameras.
“Paul Barnett, who was carrying a golf club, followed Paul Bodell. Paul Barnett may have swung the golf club at Paul Bodell but Bodell then lunged and stabbed Paul Barnett to the left chest area with force.”
Mr Vout said that after being stabbed Mr Barnett stumbled backwards and fell against a parked car before slumping to the floor. He was bleeding heavily but managed to make it back to his nearby flat.
People tried to help him and the emergency services were called but he passed away.
The following morning Bodell went to Skegness Police Station where he was arrested. He was later interviewed by officers on four occasions but made no comment to questions put to him.
Mr Vout said the two men had once been good friends but fell out. Paul Barnett complained that Bodell had taken his door keys off him and he wanted them back while Bodell believed Mr Barnett owed him £40.
A murder investigation after the death of a man on Grosvenor Road in Skegness. | Photo: John Byford
The prosecutor told the jury: “Through his lawyers Mr Bodell has indicated that his defence is one of reasonable self-defence.”
Paul Bodell, 37, of Grosvenor Road, Skegness, denies the murder of Paul Barnett on September 22, 2020.
The trial continues on Tuesday, March 23.
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A 38-year-old man from a North Lincolnshire village charged with murder will face an eight-day trial later this year.
Emergency services were called at 4.23am on Saturday, July 2 to reports that a man was seriously injured on South Parade in central Doncaster.
The 28-year-old victim was taken to hospital but was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
A post-mortem examination found that he died of injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.
Formal identification of the victim is yet to take place, South Yorkshire Police said earlier this week.
Steven Ling, 38, of Park Drain, Westwoodside in North Lincolnshire, has been charged with murder and was remanded in custody to appear at Doncaster Magistrates Court on Monday, July 4.
Ling later appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, July 5 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
No pleas were entered during the hearing, but an eight-day trial was set for November 28, 2022. Ling has now been remanded into custody until the next hearing.
The Lincolnite went on a ride-along with a Lincolnshire Police officer from the force’s Roads Policing Unit (RPU), which aims to disrupt criminals’ use of the roads and reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents.
The team will support the county response including local policing, neighbourhood policing and criminal investigation too.
Operations first began in Grantham in January this year and started in Louth earlier this week with a sergeant and nine PCs based in both locations.
The Lincolnite went out on a ride-along with PC Rich Precious from Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
PC Rich Precious has been a police officer for 22 years after joining the force in 2000 and he recently rejoined the Roads Policing Unit, working out of Louth.
PC Precious, who also previously worked as a family liaison officer for road deaths for 16 years, took The Lincolnite out in his police car to the A1 up to Colsteworth and then back to Grantham. He described that particular area as “one of the main arterial routes that goes through Lincolnshire”.
PC Rich Precious driving down the A1 up to Colsterworth. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Speaking about the new Roads Policing Unit, he said: “It’s intelligence led policing, it’s targeted policing in areas that have been underrepresented in terms of police presence, on the roads certainly, over a number of years.
“We’re hoping that the development of this unit will help address that balance, and look towards using the ANPR system to prevent criminals’ use of the road, and to identify key areas or routes where there’s a high percentage of people killed or seriously injured on the road, what we commonly refer to as KSI.
PC Precious is helping to keep the roads safer in Lincolnshire. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
When asked if he thinks the new team will help reduce the number of serious and fatal accidents in the county, he added: “That’s what the the unit designed for. Sadly, in Lincolnshire our road network does seem to incur a number of those KSI accidents year on year, and we need to reduce that.
“I’ve worked additionally in my roles as a family liaison officer on road death for 16 years, so I’ve seen first hand the impact that road death has on families and victims families.
“I know it’s important that we try and reduce those because, it’s very sad to see how a fatal road traffic collision can affect a family and the victims of that family.”
Marc Gee, Inspector for Lincolnshire Police’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Marc Gee, Inspector for the Roads Policing Unit, told The Lincolnite: “Every day there will be officers on duty from both teams and they’ll cover the whole county or the county’s roads.
“Eventually, we’ll have nine police cars and we’ve got six motorbikes. We’ll be utilising them with as many officers as we can every day basically to make our roads safer and enforce against the criminals who feel like it’s okay to come into the county and use our road for criminal purposes.”
Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones at the launch of the force’s Roads Policing Unit. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
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