Family get-together ends in bloodbath

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Man stabbed 30 times after row over sleeping arrangements

During an on-going court case at the Old Bailey, jurors heard how a mother of two stabbed her former husband, apparently to end years of domestic violence.

Police arrived at Sharon Daly's front door to find her clutching a knife with blood-smeared hands. It is alleged that Daly, 37, joined forces with her brother-in-law Andrew Bourke, 40, of Maldon Road, Acton and his son James Daly, 18 of Carlton Road, Chiswick to stab her estranged husband Alan Black 30 times at her family home in Alwyn Gardens, Acton.

Sharon Daly, 37, said Alan Black had suddenly flown into a violent rage when he saw her lying on a bed next to her nephew. She claimed he knocked out her sister and then picked up a knife to attack Andrew Bourke and James Daly.

Ms Daly, giving evidence, said: "I thought my sister was dead. She wasn't moving. I was trying to rouse her, trying to shake her and I started screaming. Alan was screaming he was going to kill me and James had his arm round his neck trying to stop him. I know Alan had something in his hand because I could see Andrew trying to disarm him."

Ms Daly claimed her former husband was shouting: "I'm gonna kill that bitch, I'm gonna kill that slag." She had stabbed him because, "I just wanted it to end and I picked up [the knife] and stabbed him three or four times to the front of his body."

It is claimed Bourke and James Daly then used the knife to stab Mr Black, 38, more than 20 times to the face, neck, legs and body.

Mr Black, the court was told, had been released from a four year sentence a few months earlier for punching his baby son in the face during an argument with his ex-wife. However, the divorced Scotsman claims he was stabbed after confronting James Daly about being rude to James's mother Michelle (Sharon Daly's sister and ex-wife of Andrew Bourke) last year. He says he was first attacked by James Daly before the other two joined in the attack.

Sharon Daly had called police to her house just before 3am telling them she had killed her husband. They arrived to find Mr Black slumped on the floor in the living room. Michelle Daly was lying unconscious with a cut to the back of her head.

Ms Daly told jurors she had suffered violence from Mr Black often during their relationship."Two times he battered me and strangled me and I reported it to police but other times I didn't. Friends and family stopped visiting because everybody was scared of him. Back then he was 16 stone and had a Jekyll and Hyde character. When he gets going he has the strength of ten men."

Ms Daly admitted that after Alan Black got out of prison in April 2005, she had started drinking more, though she denied claims that she was a regular drinker because she had to bring up two young children.

According to her account of the evening, the row escalated over sleeping arrangements.

Ms Daly, James Daly and Andrew Bourke deny the charge against them.

The trial continues.

September 8, 2006