Cannock man pleads guilty following death 12 years after attack

Craig Robins died in 2019, more than 12 years after he was attacked

A man has admitted the manslaughter of a disabled man, who died more than 12 years after being stabbed and assaulted in his car.

Craig Robins, then 27, was attacked in 2006 in Hednesford, Staffordshire, and died in 2019, a court heard.

James Ainsley Milligan, 42, of Canford Place, Cannock, has pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Gavin Dwain Brown, 36, previously admitted murder.

Bernie Peter Smith, 30, and Kyle Neil Smith, 33, have denied manslaughter.

The pair, from Rowley Close, Hednesford, are on trial at Stafford Crown Court, following the death of Mr Robins, who was assaulted on Lomax Road.

A car accident in 1997, when he was 19, left him paralysed from the chest down and he was able to use a wheelchair and drove an adapted car, the court was told.

He claimed his vehicle was being damaged and on 30 October 2006 Mr Robins tried to find out who was responsible and drove around Hednesford estate.

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The prosecution stated it said he was attacked as he sat in the driver's seat.

Brown seized a machete and dealt him nine blows and a brick was thrown through an open window, the court was told.

Mr Robins was moved to a parental home and needed round-the-clock care.

Milligan pleaded guilty to manslaughter on 7 September and Brown, from HMP Lancaster Farm, admitted murder earlier in the year.

The trial continues.