An elderly man has been detained indefinitely in a psychiatric unit after knifing a businessman to death during a row over damp in his flat.
Anthony Andrews, 84, stabbed Mike Bithrey, 72, once in the neck with a kitchen knife during a heated confrontation outside his home in Bridgwater, Somerset.
Witnesses saw Mr Bithrey push Andrews away and then collapse to the floor, bleeding heavily, on the morning of June 21 this year.
Mr Bithrey, from Honiton, East Devon, never regained consciousness and was pronounced dead by medical staff an hour after arriving at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton.
After hearing written evidence from three psychiatrists, trial judge Mr Justice Eder ruled that Andrews was unfit to stand trial for murder at Bristol Crown Court. The court heard Mr Bithrey owned ten flats in Escott Court, off Chilton Street, but Andrews was not one of his tenants.
Richard Smith QC, prosecuting, told the jury that Andrews had a long-running dispute with Mr Bithrey about damp.
"It is quite clear that this defendant has become utterly disenchanted and fed-up with his plight, and when he saw the victim he went outside to challenge him and have another confrontation about it," he said.
"He has wrongly blamed Mr Bithrey for this problem."
Witness Steven Crossman described how Andrews, who was using a walking stick, had confronted Mr Bithrey three times outside the flats before fatally stabbing him.
"I heard a thud and I looked up and the first thing I saw was the walking stick falling to the floor," he told jurors.
Mr Crossman said he saw Andrews grab Mr Bithrey with both hands by the lapels of his coat.
"I thought it difficult to believe what I was seeing – two OAPs scrapping," he said.
"Then I heard Mike say 'You stabbed me you bastard'. I looked again and I could see Mike pushing Tony away. Tony fell down onto the grassed area."
Mr Crossman said he then saw Mr Bithrey stagger towards a car and then fall to the ground, blood pouring from his throat.
Andrews went back to his flat and waited for the police. When they arrived, Andrews told them the weapon was in the kitchen and added: "That's payback for the years of misery, 16 years. I felt as though a big weight has been lifted off me.
"I felt very contented at what I done, for the way he has treated me for all these years."
During a series of police interviews, Andrews told detectives that he just snapped.
He added: "He had been going at me and saying he would take me to court and saying all this. When he turned around and walked away from me, I went indoors and thought about it.
"I thought 'I'm not having this', so I did what I did, picked up a knife and went after him. If he won't play fair with me, I won't play fair with him.
"I just stabbed him. Cut his throat. I knew that would kill him. I was just right up to here with it and I just couldn't take any more."
The defendant, of Chilton Street, Bridgwater, Somerset, was not present in court as he was too ill to attend yesterday's trial.
The court heard that he suffered a heart attack in October and has been diagnosed with early-onset dementia.
After less than an hour of deliberations, the jury found that Andrews had committed the act and stabbed Mr Bithrey.
The judge ordered that Andrews be detained without limit of time at a secure psychiatric hospital.
Mr Bithrey's family made no comment as they left court.
