Darren Pencille killed Lee Pomeroy in front of his son during row about aisle blocking

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A man who stabbed a father 18 times after a heated argument on a train has been found guilty of murder.

Darren Pencille, 36, repeatedly stabbed 51-year-old Lee Pomeroy in front of the victim’s 14-year-old son.

The “unrelenting” and “savage” attack, which lasted 27 seconds, was captured on CCTV and witnessed by other travellers on the Guildford to London service.

Pencille and Pomeroy were involved in an argument over a blocked aisle on the train on 4 January.

Pencille, who declined to give evidence at his Old Bailey trial, admitted to having a knife, but denied murder and claimed to have acted in self defence.

Lee Pomeroy, 51, was stabbed repeatedly. Photograph: Family Handout/PA

A jury deliberated for 19 and a half hours to find Pencille, who is unemployed and of no fixed abode, guilty of murder.

Pencille’s girlfriend, Chelsea Mitchell, 28, of Farnham, Surrey, was found guilty of helping him evade police after the attack.

Jurors were told Pencille had a history of violence, having previously stabbed a flatmate in the neck over a minor disagreement in 2010 and had threatened to kill a staff member at a mental health hostel in June last year.

Pencille had been seen by psychiatrists since 2004 but had not taken any anti-psychotic medication at the time of the attack, the court heard.

The 36-year-old was described as “devious and dangerous” by British Transport Police Det Ch Insp Sam Blackburn, who was one of the first officers to arrive on the scene.

He said: “His conviction in 2010 was almost like a mirror, apart from it not being on a train, where he did have an argument with another man and then stabbed him in exactly the same place – in the neck, causing a minor injury that time to the artery of the neck, not too dissimilar to our victim Lee.”

Pomeroy, an IT consultant, had boarded the train at London Road, Guildford, just after 1pm on Friday 4 January for a day out in London with his teenage son. The pair got into the same carriage as Pencille and made their way down the aisle, the court heard.

Jurors heard the father and son may have been “blocking” Pencille’s way. A heated argument quickly erupted, with Pencille swearing at Pomeroy and calling him a “pussy”. Pencille shouted: “You touch me, you touch me and you see what happens at the next stop.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Chelsea Mitchell arriving at the Old Bailey. Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA

Pomeroy demanded an apology in response, saying: “You should not have humiliated me in front of my kid.” At one point, Pencille was heard to say on his mobile phone: “I’m going to kill this man”, the court heard.

Prosecutor Jake Hallam QC had told jurors: “Eyewitnesses saw what they thought was the two men trading punches. They were half right … They saw Lee Pomeroy punching the first defendant, defending himself, having been stabbed in the neck by him.

“But the first defendant wasn’t punching back, he was stabbing. Again, and again, and again.”

Pomeroy’s teenage son had witnessed the entire attack. “I think it’s fair to say it’s had a dramatic and traumatic effect on him and I do hope the verdict that he’s received today will start that closure process for him and his family,” Blackburn said.

Pencille got off at the next station and was picked up by Mitchell, who bought the defendant hair clippers and razors for him to change his appearance, jurors heard.

British Transport Police released body-worn camera footage showing the moment armed police raided Mitchell’s flat in Farnham, Surrey, in the early hours of 5 January.

In the video, Pencille is ordered to back towards the entrance with his hands on his head before he is handcuffed by officers and taken into a waiting police van. Pencille can be heard saying “yes sir, yes sir” and “please, I’m not going to do nothing, please” before asking: “What’s this about, sir?”