Teenager, 17, 'followed pensioner, 79, into property before fatally stabbing him through the chest with a 20cm knife', court hears

A teenager stabbed a pensioner through the heart with a 20cm blade after following his elderly ex partner home, a court heard.

'Calm' Daniel Rounce walked into Linda Love's property through an unlocked door before attacking Gearald Wickes, 79, who was visiting her, it is alleged.

Roucne, who was 17 at the time, had gone missing from sheltered accommodation nearby the day earlier, Leicester Crown Court heard on Monday.

The teenager, now 18, denies murder. Opening the case, Steven Bailey, said Rounce 'said very little' after walking into the house and stabbing Mr Wickes just once.

'You will hear that is all it took,' Mr Bailey said.

Jurors were told that the afternoon of February 22 last year, Mr Wickes had gone to visit his ex partner, Linda Love and their son, Gary Wickes, at her home in Eyres Monsell, Leicester.

The court heard he was in 'pretty good health' for his age and enjoyed a good social relationship with his former partner.

They were speaking in the lounge of the property when Rounce walked in through an unlocked door, jurors were told.

Mr Bailey told how the alleged killer 'ignored questions about what he was doing'.

'He said very little,' he told jurors.

'He told them he would decide what happens next.'

Mr Bailey said when Mr Wickes told him that his son Gary was also in the house, he pulled out a large knife that was concealed within his clothing and stabbed him just once.

Mr Bailey said: 'By 5.21pm Gerald Wickes was dead'.

'Somebody had stabbed him with one blow in the left hand side of his chest with a large knife'.

He said the blade was 19 and a half centimetres long and had gone through Mr Wickes' heart, down through his diaphragm and 'the point ended up near his kidney'.

'Although he was able to to move and speak a little after he was stabbed he died at the scene tragically within half an hour,' he said.

Mr Bailey said this was despite the efforts of his son and Ms Love and police and paramedics who were called to the address.

'His wound was such that he could not be saved,' he added.

Mr Bailey said it was 'not yet clear how many of the facts Mr Rounce disputes' but that the prosecution say that 'Daniel Rounce knew what he was doing'.

He said that Rounce had followed 'elderly' Ms Love home and was 'waiting for an opportunity'.

Jurors were told that on the afternoon of Wednesday February 22, Ms Love had been out for lunch with friends and one of them had given her a lift home. 

She dropped her a short way from her property meaning Ms Love had to walk through a wooded area and under a railway bridge. 

As she walked, she passed a man wearing a motorcycle helmet which the prosecution say was Rounce. Another witness saw the same man in a motorbike helmet sitting on a pile of bricks.

Ms Love arrived home and Rounce was caught on CCTV walking past 20 seconds after she went inside. 

He was then seen walking up and down the street for around 40 minutes, during which time he was seen crouching down and removing a layer of clothing.

He left two bags at the door before entering the property, it is alleged. Mr Bailey said within in a minute and a half, he had stabbed Mr Wilkes.

'That is how long it took to kill Mr Wilkes,' Mr Bailey said.

After the stabbing, the knifemen fled.

Rounce was arrested several hours later three miles away wearing 'a great number of layers of clothing'.

The knife was recovered from woodland near Ms Love's home with Rounce's and Mr Wickes' DNA on. 

Mr Bailey said 'effort had been made to conceal' the weapon. 'This was an attacker who knew exactly what he was doing,' he said.

The court heard Roucne had been living in supported accommodation nearby but had gone missing the day before.

Mr Bailey said the police could find no evidence of where he had spent the night before he was seen the next day by a number of people and caught on CCTV including on a path behind a primary school.

Mr Bailey said 'at this stage' it is not clear what Rounce's case will be.

'We don't need to think about why, you need to think about the what and the who,' Mr Bailey told jurors.

Roucne has also denied possessing an offence weapon, the knife. The trial, expected to last 10 days, continues.