Angry Norwich neighbour stabbed Dean Allsop to death 'in row over motorbike noise'

A man stabbed his neighbour 17 times and wounded two women after becoming annoyed at the noise of motorbike engines in their street, a court heard.

Jamie Crosbie, 48, stabbed 41-year-old Dean Allsop to death, with two of the wounds penetrating his right lung and heart and causing “massive and fatal bleeding”, Norwich Crown Court heard.

Mr Allsop, of Primrose Crescent in Thorpe St Andrew, Norfolk, was pronounced dead at the scene at 8.18pm on 14 April last year.

Andrew Jackson, prosecuting, said that Crosbie told officers who arrested him two minutes later on suspicion of murder: “That makes me happy, that’s a good thing, that’s the best news I ever heard.”

The barrister said that Mr Allsop and his son Mikey were “keen motorcyclists” and “occasionally they would tinker with their motorcycles at home”.

“The sound of a motorcycle engine in a residential area can occasionally, like many other things, cause some annoyance to other residents and such minor issues between neighbours can be resolved amicably with some give and take on both sides,” Mr Jackson said.

“The prosecution case is that on that day the defendant allowed himself to become annoyed by the noise of the motorcycle engines and he was not prepared to deal in any amicable way at all with that issue.”

Crosbie admitted at an earlier hearing to the manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility of Mr Allsop. He denies his murder.

Mr Jackson said Crosbie would claim he was “suffering from an abnormality of mental functioning” at the time.

Crosbie also denies two counts of attempted murder and two of wounding with intent, of Mr Allsop’s partner Louise Newell and their friend and neighbour Kerryn Johnson, who had tried to stop the attack.

Mr Jackson said Crosbie stabbed Mr Allsop to death then “when Mr Allsop’s partner Louise Newell and their friend and neighbour Kerryn Johnson tried to prevent their neighbour from killing Mr Allsop, the defendant attempted to murder those two women by stabbing them as well”.

He said that Ms Newell sustained injuries to her forehead, cheek and chest, and Ms Johnson to her arm and neck.

Mr Jackson said that Crosbie had threatened Mr Allsop with a knife in June 2018, almost three years before the fatal attack, after Mr Allsop put some rubbish in his wheelie bin.

“It seems the bins were about to be collected,” the prosecutor said. “Mr Allsop’s bin was full so he put some rubbish into his neighbour’s bin.

“That caused the defendant to threaten him with a knife and a saw. The defendant then chased Mr Allsop down the road.”

Mr Jackson said Crosbie also threw a hammer at Mr Allsop’s house, but it missed and went through a neighbour’s bedroom window.

“He allowed himself to become angry over a relatively trivial matter,” the barrister said.

Crosbie was brought to court in 2019 and was convicted of possessing a knife and criminal damage over the 2018 incident, but the neighbours continued to live in the street.

The trial, due to last two to three weeks, continues.

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