Road Rage Suspect 'Stabbed To Protect Himself'

A man accused of murdering a fellow motorist in an alleged road rage attack told police he stabbed him in self-defence, a court has heard.

Matthew Daley, 35, knifed 79-year-old Donald Lock 39 times after the older man crashed his car into the back of his vehicle at about 16mph, the jury was told.

The collision allegedly happened after Daley made an emergency stop on the A24 at Findon, near Worthing, West Sussex, last July.

While in custody, he told a police officer: "It's sad that I had to kill someone who was so aggressive to me when I wasn't aggressive at all", Lewes Crown Court heard.

The defendant said in a police interview that a car was driving very fast towards the back of his vehicle, the trial was told.

Daley said the other driver then shouted from his car to "frighten" him.

He said he thought a knife "could protect" him as the other motorist was angry and was coming towards his car.

Daley said: "I stood up with my knife. That's when it went into him", jurors were told.

He said he got the knife from the pocket behind the driver's seat and stabbed him, adding: "I wasn't thinking, I was just doing."

He said when the other driver dropped onto the ground, he "kept putting it (the knife) into him".

Daley went on: "When I realised he (Donald Lock) wasn't alive I thought it was time to go. When I felt that the fear had been cancelled out, I took out the knife and drove away."

Earlier, his mother Lynda Daley explained how her family "pleaded" with mental health experts to section him to protect himself and others before the attack, jurors heard.

Mrs Daley said: "We were never provided with a proper diagnosis. We were frequently in meetings but we were not listened to."

She added: "It's been continual over the last 10 years. In the past 10 years we have pleaded to people, it has been on a regular basis."

She agreed that the day her son stabbed to death Mr Lock was "the day that all your nightmares came true".

She explained how the defendant had huge debt problems and his relationship with his girlfriend had broken down recently, leaving him "distraught".

Mrs Daley said she was "really worried" about her mentally ill son's anxiety and that his anxiety levels had been rising.

And the court heard he had told his mother on the telephone that he "had done something", and after a brief pause, he had "killed someone".

She also said her son could hear up to 20-30 voices at any one time in his head.

He had called police about the voices but officers told him he was wasting their time, Mrs Daley went on.

Daley denies murder and the case continues.