David Greenall

David Greenall was found stabbed in his flat.

David Greenall, a 63-year-old man and a third man were said to have had a fight in the communal area of the flats on 12 June 2020 after which David Greenall was found stabbed.

The stabbing took place near to the end of the main 2020 Covid lockdowns.

The 63-year-old man was tried for his murder but acquitted. He had denied the murder. The court heard that it could not be determined who had had the knife that David Greenall had been stabbed with.

It was claimed that the 63-year-old man had stabbed him following a row over the 63-year-old man using the communal garden for his dogs.

The court heard that the 63-year-old man had been exercising his dogs in the communal garden when a third man, a known criminal with a long history of carrying knives came out to complain. The court heard that he had come out looking for a fight and a row started. After that, it was heard that David Greenall came out and joined in the row and that a tumbling scrap took place, with neighbours describing seeing all three men fighting with punches being thrown.

David Greenall was afterwards found injured in his flat and taken to Furness General Hospital where he died. He had been stabbed in the liver, the wound being 10cm deep. It was noted that he had no defensive injuries.

David Greenall was said to have often mopped the communal halls at the flats and taken care of other communal areas such as the garden and the recycling area and was described as having been slightly obsessive over it. He was also described as having been fed up with where he was living and to have asked housing officers to be moved but had been told that no moves were taking place due to the coronavirus pandemic. He had told friends that he was surrounded by smackheads and alkies, However, he had been given a diary to record any incidents of noise or antisocial behaviour.

It was noted that David Greenall himself had been an alcoholic.

A neighbour said, 'I heard the sound of banging and fighting. I heard someone say the word ‘paedophile’. I think it was the defendant but I cannot be certain'.

David Greenall had called 999 at 7.56pm and then again shortly after to report being stabbed after which the police went out and found him stabbed. It was said that when he had called the police that he had squarely pointed the blame for being stabbed at the 63-year-old man.

The police appealed for anyone that had been at the flats between 7pm and 8.30pm and saw or heard anything to come forward.

Blood was found in his flat which it was said indicated that he had returned to his flat after being stabbed. When the police arrived they also found the word, 'paedophile', scrawled across his front door.

The 63-year-old man also called the police.

A neighbour said that when they heard the row that she went out to see and heard a man who lived upstairs say he was calling the police. She said that she then heard the third man say, 'Ring the police, you’ve just stabbed him'. The court heard that following that, that the third man went back to his flat, locked the door and changed his clothes.

In the call to the police the 63-year-old man said, 'The guy downstairs said I shouldn’t be having my dogs out in the back communal area. Another guy’s come from behind and I’ve hit him. He punched me in the face and he started telling me what I should and shouldn’t be doing. He’s hit me so I hit him back. It turned into a wrestling match basically. These other guys grabbed me from behind. I’m 63. I can’t fight my way out of a paper bag now'.

At the trial a friend of the 63-year-old man said that he had seen his friend of 30 years carrying a grey fold knife a few days before the attack. He said that the 63-year-old man pulled the knife out to show him but that he had asked him to put it away as it made him nervous. He said, 'I told him not to do anything hasty because in my opinion he was not in his right frame of mind'.

The defence said, 'It was a sly assault'.

When the defence addressed the jury they asked them to consider whether the testimony of a dying man, heavily intoxicated by alcohol, could be relied on, or whether David Greenall might  have been influenced by the words shouted up the stairs by the third man, inferring that the 63-year-old man had stabbed him.

However, the 63-year-old man was acquitted at the trial after the jury determined that they could not decide beyond reasonable doubt that the 63-year-old man had stabbed David Greenall.