Man who fatally stabbed flatmate cleared of murder

Rhys Howell died from a stab wound to the heart

A man who fatally stabbed his flatmate has been found not guilty of murder.

David Lupton, 60, who stabbed Rhys Howell, 57, in an altercation at a multi-occupancy flat in Skegness, Lincolnshire, claimed he was defending himself from a machete attack.

A jury at Lincoln Crown Court also cleared Mr Lupton of a second charge of manslaughter relating to Mr Howell's death.

Following the verdicts, Judge James House KC told Mr Lupton: "You are now discharged."

The court previously heard Mr Howell died from a stab wound to the heart and was found slumped against a wall outside the property in Grosvenor Road on 19 August last year.

The prosecution had claimed Mr Lupton repeatedly slashed at Mr Howell after arming himself with a knife which he kept next to his bed.

However, Mr Lupton told jurors he reached for the weapon only after Mr Howell burst into his room armed with a machete following an earlier incident.

"I saw a machete coming at my head with Rhys stood behind it," Mr Lupton said.

"I've got someone trying to kill me with a machete.. .I was scared."

Jurors heard that Mr Lupton accepted he had caused the fatal injury, but he insisted he had no intention to stab Mr Howell in the chest.

When asked by defence barrister Phil Bradley KC if he wished Mr Howell any harm, Mr Lupton replied: "No."

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