Wednesday, 23 November 2005The widow of a City banker was paralysed and stopped breathing after she was stabbed during a robbery at her family home, the Old Bailey heard.
Homeyra Monckton, 46, was stabbed twice in the back and her husband John was fatally knifed at their Chelsea home in west London in November last year.
Their daughter Isobel, nine, saw her parents soaked in blood and called 999.
Damien Hanson and Elliot White, both 24, deny the murder of Mr Monckton and the attempted murder of Mrs Monckton.
Mr Hanson, of no fixed address, denies robbery while Mr White, from Shepherds Bush, west London, admits the charge. Both deny wounding with intent.
After Isobel called emergency services, police arrived but were unable to get in because she had locked the door and put the chain on, the court heard.
She passed the keys through the letterbox and an officer was eventually able to release the chain.
Pc Roger Wean found Mr Monckton, 49, lying lifeless in the lounge and Mrs Monckton at the foot of the stairs, the court heard.
"He had blood on his chest and was purple. I could not feel a pulse."
Walking stick
Richard Horwell, prosecuting, said Mrs Monckton's condition was critical and required emergency surgery to stop massive internal bleeding.
She had been stabbed with such force that a rib fractured, he told the jury.
On Tuesday Mrs Monckton, who is still using a walking stick, took to the witness box and relived the night she and her husband were stabbed.
Earlier the court heard Mr Hanson had an obsession with the rich that had led him to collect newspaper articles about Britain's richest men and women.
The court also heard Mr Hanson was released from a jail sentence for attempted murder and robbery only three months before he allegedly murdered Mr Monckton. The trial continues.
BBC News
November 23, 2005 |
Wednesday, 23 November 2005
BBC News
|
|
