Father and son accused of murdering Sutton scaffolder in pub (From Your Local Guardian)

Father and son accused of murdering Sutton scaffolder in front of pub customers

4:28pm Friday 21st May 2010 in Top Stories

A father and son brutally murdered a scaffolder after arriving at a Sutton pub armed with a meat cleaver and two kitchen knives, a court has heard.

Lee Cooper, 25, of Typhoon Way, Wallington, and Anthony Cooper, 57, of the same address, are accused of murdering David Stevenson, 28, at the New Inn pub on August 9 last year.

A month earlier Mr Stevenson had started a relationship with Vicky Shirley, the former girlfriend and mother of Lee Cooper's two young children.

Mr Stevenson was a friend of Miss Shirley's brother Anthony.

The jury at the Old Bailey heard that Mr Cooper wanted to restart his relationship with his ex-girlfriend but the feeling was not mutual and this angered him.

All three men, Lee Cooper, Anthony Shirley and David Stevenson, worked as scaffolders and, the court heard, a lot of “bad blood” had built up.

On August 9, the day Mr Stevenson died, Lee Cooper had agreed to look after his children while his ex-girlfriend Miss Shirley went to the New Inn pub, in Myrtle Road, that afternoon.

She arranged to pick up her children from her ex-boyfriend once the Chelsea/Manchester united Community Shield match had finished around 6pm.

Miss Shirley called Mr Cooper to say she was going to be late and he said he was keeping the kids for the night.

Angered by this Miss Shirley called her brother, Anthony, who then spoke to Mr Cooper and threatened to call the police if he did not return the children.

The court then heard that Mr Shirley called Mr Cooper’s mum a “slag” and threatened to “rape her”.

In response to this Mr Cooper said he was going to come down to the pub and kill Mr Shirley.

Mr Cooper spoke to another friend and was alleged to have said: “I've had enough. Kill me and rape my mum? I'm not having this.”

It was at this point that Mr Cooper met up with his father Anthony, and the pair armed themselves before heading towards the New Inn.

The defendants, who were already drunk, arrived at the pub around 7.10pm and headed straight for the beer garden where they believed Mr Shirley and Mr Stevenson were sitting.

Anthony Cooper was the first to enter the beer garden brandishing a meat cleaver, his son was just behind him with a large kitchen knife in each hand.

The pair made their way over a table where Miss Shirley, Mr Shirley and Mr Stevenson were sitting.

Witnesses said the chaotic scenes that ensued bordered on “bedlam” and “pandemonium”.

Having spotted the trio at the table Anthony Cooper, who was described as drunk and aggressive, raised the meat cleaver above head and struck Mr Stevenson on the shoulder.

Fortunately for Mr Stevenson the blow did not leave a mark such was the drunken state of his attacker, according to the post mortem.

Having seen this Mr Shirley punched Mr Cooper in the face before Miss Shirley tackled him to the floor.

Terrified customers suddenly ran across the garden trying to stay out of the way of the explosion of violence.

A struggle ensued between the three and the meat cleaver was thrown across the garden floor.

Lee Cooper, now clearly carrying a knife in each hand, started shouting at Mr Stevenson saying “Come on then, I'm going to have you.”

Witnesses said he was “pumped-up” and looked like a “mad man”, other customers threw pint glasses at Mr Cooper to try and keep away from his intended target, Mr Stevenson.

Another man, Phillip Brindley, who was the partner of Miss Shirley's mother and knew Mr Cooper, realised the knife-wielding defendant had set his sights on Mr Stevenson who was unarmed.

Mr Brindley tried to calm the 25-year-old down and eventually managed to grab the defendant from behind, lift him off the ground and carry him into the alleyway next to the beer garden.

From the alleyway, Mr Cooper again challenged Mr Stevenson shouting: “Come and fight me one on one?” and Mr Stevenson followed.

Sir Allan Green QC, prosecuting, said this was the fatal decision by Mr Stevenson that led to his death.

Once in the alleyway Mr Stevenson pleaded with Mr Cooper to put the knives down Sir Phillip said: “The two men went towards eachother, one armed and one not.

“Mr Cooper lunged and Mr Stevenson avoided the blow and threw a counter punch but, using both knives, Mr Cooper stabbed his victim in the chest and stomach with alternating blows.”

Mr Stevenson was stabbed seven times with the fatal blow, according to the post mortem, piercing his heart and diaphragm.

Mr Stevenson fell to his knees and as he did so Mr Cooper kicked him hard, “like a football”, Sir Phillip said.

Miss Shirley and her brother then entered the alleyway and saw the carnage. Mr Cooper, having seen his ex-girlfriend, then said to her: “You can fucking have him now” before running away followed by his father.

The pair saw a mutual friend in his car and jumped in until a police van passed them in the direction when they got out.

They then headed to another man's house, belonging to Lee's cousin Tony Cooper, in Halesowen Road, Morden, where they washed the blood off and changed clothes.

Having gone home, Lee Cooper's family persuaded him to hand himself in later that night which he did at Sutton police station.

Once under arrest, Mr Cooper was allegedly so drunk that he said: “Why are you nicking me? What have I done?”

Under interview Mr Cooper claimed he could not remember meeting his father or being at the pub but when was understood to be about four times the drink-drive limit.

Anthony Cooper was arrested the next day, August 10, at his house.

Sir Allan then explained to the jury that for the defendants to have been provoked they would have had to have a “sudden and temporary loss of self-control”.

He said: “We saw there was no sudden and temporary loss of self-control. He consciously (Lee Cooper) decided to go to the pub, sought the help of his father and armed himself.”

The trial, which is expected to last six weeks, continues.