Man mentioned he’d be ‘legend in jail’ after killing neighbour ‘he thought was paedo’

Julian Donoher stabbed his neighbour Gerard Ring to death after wrongly believing he was a paedophile as he told police he would be “a f****** legend in jail”

A psychotic drug user who had delusions that his 82-year-old neighbour was a paedophile when he fatally stabbed him in his garden has been handed an indefinite hospital order.

Julian Donoher, 51, had not taken his medication for his mental health for nine months before he randomly attacked keen gardener Gerard Ring by stabbing his face, chest and abdomen outside his home on the afternoon of September 6 last year, Derby Crown Court heard.

Donoher reportedly told police after the attack that he would be “a f****** legend in jail. On Tuesday (September 22), Donoher was handed a hospital order with restrictions aimed at ensuring he gets appropriate treatment and to protect the public, after he admitted manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.

The defendant, who has a history of depression and bipolar disorder, had psychotic symptoms and began saying “strange and bizarre things” after moving to Whitecross Gardens in Derby, the court heard.

The court heard the defendant had schizoaffective disorder and had been a user of cannabis and had tried harder drugs since his early 20s.

Mr Ring, a grandfather who had a cancer diagnosis, lived independently and often sat outside his home in Whitecross Gardens, enjoying the wildlife and “nodding off in his chair”.

Prosecutor Mark Heywood KC said the pensioner appeared on CCTV riding his mobility scooter to his front door at 1pm on the day of the attack. He added: “Mr Ring then seated himself in the garden as he enjoyed doing, occasionally going indoors and returning, either to seat himself again or do some minor work in his garden.”

At 2.15pm, Donoher walked past Mr Ring’s home when he was recorded saying “words to the effect of ‘no problem’ before telling the dog to ‘come on’”, Mr Heywood said.

The prosecutor told the court Donoher came back five minutes later with his right hand in his pocket, before going up to Mr Ring and stabbing him while “gripping his head in the crook of his arm” and then walking away.

After the attack, Donoher approached another neighbour, put his hands on her shoulders and “said something about the paedophile business”, before telling her that he “killed a paedophile” and that Mr Ring had raped a teenage girl.

Mr Heywood told the court: “Unambiguously, there is no truth in any such suggestion. These were delusional comments.”

The prosecutor said Mr Ring managed to return inside his house and locked the front door behind him. Mr Heywood continued: “He used his own phone to dial 999 and said he had been stabbed by a man he did not know to the throat, side and wherever else he could stab him.

“He was also able to call for help loudly enough for other neighbours to hear.”

When paramedics reached the address, they found Mr Ring on the floor in his hallway bleeding heavily, the court heard. He was taken to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham but died on the morning of September 9, Mr Heywood said.

Donoher, who appeared in court by video link to be sentenced, later told police he “will be a f****** legend in jail”, the court heard.

Mr Ring’s eldest daughter Tracey Ring, who held a framed picture of her father while she read a statement in court, said she feels “unbearable” pain. She told Donoher what he did to her elderly father was a “vile, savage, inhumane attack”.