Moment off-duty police officer armed with plank of wood tackles killer

  • CCTV shows moment man breaks into home of neighbour before stabbing him

Footage of an off-duty police officer armed only with a plank of wood trying to stop a killer as he stabbed one of his neighbours, has been shown to a jury.

Can Arslan stabbed his next door neighbour Matthew Boorman to death on his own front lawn as his wife, Sarah Boorman, watched on in horror.

Arslan then sat on the 43-year-old's body and lit a cigarette before walking to the home of another neighbour, Peter Marsden, and stabbing him eight times.

Arslan, 52, admits the attempted murder of Mr Marsden and causing GBH with intent to Sarah Boorman, Mr Boorman's wife. She was stabbed in the leg as she tried to stop the attack on her husband.

Sergeant Steve Wilkinson (right) armed himself with a golf club to stop Can Arslan's attacks

Arslan also admits stabbing Mr Boorman, who was a father-of-three, but denies murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility and is on trial at Bristol Crown Court.

Footage of the incident, which happened on the quiet residential street of Snowdonia Road in Walton Cardiff in October last year, has been shown to the jury.

In it, Sergeant Steve Wilkinson - who was off-duty at the time - was armed with just a plank of wood as he tried to stop knife-wielding Arslan.

Man stabbed to death by next door neighbour while on a work call
Murder accused sat on neighbour's body and lit ‘triumphant’ cigarette, jury told

Arslan is shown walking towards the home of Mr Marsden and barging down the garden gate.

He then goes inside the house, where he knifed Mr Marsden eight times. The garden CCTV camera then shows Mr Marsden pushing Arslan away as Sgt Wilkinson hits him with the plank of wood.

Afterwards, Arslan is captured on camera calmly lighting a cigarette.

The jury were also shown footage of the moment police arrested Arslan.

At one point, Arslan can be heard laughing. He then pleads with officers to move his handcuffed arms to the front of his body because, he says, of his arthritis.

  • Watch bodycam footage of Arslan's arrest

He swears at officers as they bundle him into a police van.

The court was also played an interview Mr Marsden gave in which he described Arslan's eyes as "evil".

"He had so much hatred looking at me," he added.

Speaking of the moment Arslan went into his house, Mr Marsden said: "I dropped everything I was doing and ran towards him shouting 'get out'.

"I didn’t know he had a knife, I would have acted differently."

Can Arslan can be seen lighting a cigarrete after stabbing his neighbour.

The court previously heard neighbours had installed security cameras after Arslan had made threats to kill several of them.

The incident followed a long-running dispute in the area which started over a shared driveway and a car prang but developed.

The court has been told people on the street stopped using their gardens and were scared to put washing out.

Mr Marsden said he spent "thousands of pounds" on security, telling police: "This is something I’ve been expecting from Arslan - he’s threatened to kill me previously.

The trial continues.