COUNTY NEWS: Lodger pleads guilty to stabbing landlord

A lodger has pleaded guilty to the murder of his landlord.
Knight (left) pleaded guilty to the murder on Friday at Hove Crown CourtKnight (left) pleaded guilty to the murder on Friday at Hove Crown Court
Knight (left) pleaded guilty to the murder on Friday at Hove Crown Court

Alan Knight pleaded guilty to murdering David Bond at the house they shared in August this year when he appeared at Hove Crown Court on Friday, November 8.

On August 9 officers were called to Osmonde Close in Broadwater in Worthing where it had been reported to them that a man could be seen lying in a house and there was concern for his welfare, according to police.

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Emergency services attended the house and could see 50-year-old David slumped by the front door.

When officers managed to break down the door, they found him dead in a pool of blood with his bike lying on top of him. It quickly became obvious he had been murdered, police said.

David has been stabbed 25 times by a kitchen knife which was left in the house. His car, a red Ford Fiesta van, was gone from the drive.

Attention quickly turned to David’s lodger Alan Knight, who wasn’t at the house and couldn’t be found. He became the suspect for the murder.

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Work began on trying to locate him. After murdering David on August 6, the next day he drove in the victim’s Ford Fiesta van to the Mitcham area of South London before abandoning it.

Police say he then travelled to Southend where he stayed overnight in a hotel. The following day, August 8 he travelled by train to London and onto Luton. He then moved onto Bath on August 9.

From then his movements are unclear but stayed in Blackpool on August 10. In the early hours of August 12, after seeing the publicity, he handed himself into police in Fleetwood, Lancashire. He was arrested and subsequently charged with murder.

Knight, 51, admitted the murder at court on Friday and will be sentenced on December 20.

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Detective Inspector Mark Cullimore said: “This is a tragic case where a man has lost his life over an argument over cleanliness of the house. I am pleased Alan Knight has pleaded guilty and preventing David’s family having to endure the trial. I hope David’s family can now begin to move on with their lives.”

His family did not wish to make a comment on the case and are privately reflecting on what has happened.

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