Man jailed for life over murder of father-of-three Andrew Darn on Tyne Tunnel trading estate

A deli worker who murdered a staff member from the garage next door after a long-running row between the businesses has been jailed for life.

Father-of-three Andrew Darn was fatally stabbed on an industrial estate on North Tyneside in March.

Alder Willis, 68, had denied murder but was found guilty of the charge following a trial at Newcastle Crown Court in August.

Willis, of Alanville, Camperdown, North Tyneside, will now serve a minimum of 18 years in prison.

During the trial, the court heard there had been an ongoing feud between employees at the The Deli Sandwich Shop and Easy Access Garage Doors over parking on the Tyne Tunnel Trading Estate, dating back to 2010.

Prosecutors said the build up to the deadly confrontation started the day before, on 26 March, when a worker from the garage threw some food out for seagulls and hit an employee from the deli, where Willis worked.

The court heard the sausage roll had hit Willis' partner and she had "thumped" the woman who threw it. Willis had then arrived and was "sweary".

Jurors were told Willis then made a threat toward Mr Darn, saying he was going to "kill him or stab him, something like that."

Mr Darn, who was employed at the Garage Doors company, told his partner later that day he thought that row was the "catalyst" for Willis' hostility towards him and he had been worried about going to work on the morning he was murdered.

Prosecutor Francis Fitzgibbon KC said: "On March 27 this year at about 8am the defendant Mr Willis and a man named Andrew Darn confronted each other in the street outside their neighbouring places of work at the Tyne Tunnel Industrial Estate.

"Mr Darn threw a punch at the defendant. The defendant responded by pulling a knife that he had in his pocket and stabbing Mr Darn, once.

"The knife went up through Mr Darn's rib cage and went into the area around his heart and into his aorta.

"He managed to get into his car, where he died as a result of the stab wound."

During a sentencing hearing on Monday 7 October, Mr Darn's father Michael said he had "lost his best friend".

He said: "When Andrew died a big part of me died with him and will never be filled.

"A father should never have to identify their son as I did on that Thursday. It's a memory that will remain with me for the rest of my life.

"I wasn't able to hold him and tell him how much I loved him and tell him that everything was going to be alright.

"He used to FaceTime my wife and I every Tuesday night so we could see the grandchildren before they went to bed.

"Every Thursday Andrew would say put the kettle on and say I will be there in five minutes.

"I'm not a religious person but when people say there was a reason Andrew was taken so early, I say they needed someone to fit garage doors, that's what Andrew would say.

"That was his sense of humour. Andrew was a larger than life character who was always winding us up and making us laugh.

"Andrew had so much to live for. We will tell the children about Andrew and remind them of the things he used to get up to.

"I know he will be next to me now giving me strength as he always did before."

Judge Paul Sloan KC said there had been a long-standing dispute which included "bickering" which lasted for over a decade.

The court heard Willis made a gesture with hands across his throat towards Mr Darn.

The judge said: "It was all very trivial and childish.

"Mr Darn had not been party to this long standing dispute. He had only been employed at Easy Access Garage Doors a couple years prior to his killing, since April of 2022."

The judge added: "It was a deliberate and cowardly use of a lethal weapon.

"At the moment he went for you the knife was out and you were swinging it from waist height towards Mr Darn's chest, not just once but twice and you did that while knowing you were stabbing an unarmed man.

"Knowing you had struck Mr Darn with the knife you made your way back to the Deli.

"The same time Mr Darn returned to his car and sat in the driver's seat and there he remained bleeding to death."

Peter Makepeace KC, defending, told the court Willis was a hard-working man with no previous criminal convictions.

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