A “monster” who killed a neighbor and seriously injured two others in a “planned violence” after taking legal action to try to reduce his 12-year campaign of extreme harassment has been jailed for at least 37 years.
Can Arslan, 52, stabbed Matthew Boorman in the front yard of Boorman in the village of Walton Cardiff, Gloucestershire, on 5 October last year. Boorman’s wife, Sarah, received a knife wound to the thigh while trying to help, while another neighbor, Peter Marsden, was stabbed eight times but managed to defend Arslan.
Sarah Boorman, who has criticized police and other authorities for “toothless and ineffective responses” to repeated warnings that Arslan was dangerous, declined to name the killer in a statement on the victim’s impact read during the hearing. of sentence in the court of the crown of Bristol, making reference to him. like the “monster on the side.”
Matthew Boorman. Photo: PA
She described her husband as her “soul mate” and a fantastic father of three who “never fought with anyone.” Arslan had made his lives miserable for years. “We were nervous and scared,” he said. He pretended to call a hitman and film the windows of the children’s rooms. “It simply came to our notice then. He seemed to be in a war zone; we were always ready. “
Arslan ambushed Matthew Boorman as he approached his front door, stabbing him 27 times before sitting on his body and lighting a cigarette. Sarah Boorman was injured while trying to help. “I hear him say‘ No ’as they stab him,” he said. “I’m worried I didn’t do enough to save him.”
Her 12-year-old son was playing a computer game on the street. “He saw the horror of killing his father,” he said. She ran to the living room to protect her little sister and her brother. “I know how proud Matt would have been.”
Her young son still wonders where his father is. “They don’t understand why a bad man would want to hurt his father so much that they can never see him again. Every day I wake up, my heart breaks more.”
Judge Cutts told Arslan that street peace was shattered when his “anger, resentment and rage erupted in a wave of planned violence.” She told him: “You set up a campaign of harassment and abuse of the most extreme nature. You threatened to rape and kill. You spoke of a massacre.”
Cutts noted that the neighbors had tried to take legal action against Arslan, whose resentment began with disputes over minor matters, such as parking. He was notified of community protection in April 2021, and in September, 12 days before the attacks, the city council issued a precautionary order banning him from using or threatening violence.
One week before the murder, Arslan was charged with harassing the Boormans and was on bail. The day before the attack, he spoke to police and told them he would kill Matthew Boorman. “Obviously that was your determined intention,” Cutts told him.
The judge said Arslan was a “highly dangerous” man who had continued to threaten his former neighbors from prison. He has been diagnosed with a paranoid, unstable and antisocial personality disorder, but has refused to take medication or receive therapy.
The Independent Police Conduct Office is examining what action the Gloucestershire police took and a review has been commissioned to see how other agencies treated Arslan.