Stabbing at party admitted

Press, 6 November 1984, Page 4

Stabbing at party admitted

Before the conclusion of the prosecution case, a man pleaded guilty-in the High Court yesterday to two charges arising from a double stabbing at a party in Derby Street, St Albans, on the night of June 30. Mr Justice Hardie Boys remanded Peter Lindsay James Whitworth, aged 31, unemployed, in custody to November 16 for sentence on charges of wounding Rhys Ivor Morgan and Drago Carl Vrhovnik with reckless disregard for the safety of others. Whitworth originally pleaded not guilty to those charges and to two alternative charges of wounding those persons with intent to injure. He admitted the two lesser charges early yesterday afternoon and the jury was discharged from giving a verdict. Mr G. K. Panckhurst appeared for the Crown and

Mr A. N. D. Garrett for Whitworth. „ Evidence was given that a dispute over property and an unpaid debt which had been going on for about nine months led to the stabbings when two groups, who had been drinkbig, arrived at the party about the same time. After the two men were stabbed Whitworth was beaten by those present and suffered a knife wound. He was found with several lacerations to the head and was covered in blood. Morgan was slashed across the left side of the neck with a knife and Vrhovnik received a puncture wound in the right lung. A blood-stained knife was recovered from the . gutter in Derby Street The person who stabbed Whitworth has not been found.