Adopted son of Stafford mayor 'stabbed to death at Dartmoor with kitchen knife'
A convicted killer stabbed to death the adopted son of a former Stafford mayor at Dartmoor jail using a 10-inch bladed kitchen knife used to chop vegetables, a court was told.
William Tolcher, 51, suddenly stabbed Alexander Cusworth in the abdomen with the red handled knife one day last November 'to settle a score over his disrespectful behaviour'.
Mr Cusworth, aged 37, came from Baswich, Staffordshire and was the adopted son of borough councillor Ann Edgeller and her late husband Howard Cusworth.
Prosecutor Simon Laws QC told a jury at Plymouth Crown Court: "On November 26th last year this defendant William Tolcher was working in the kitchen at Dartmoor prison.
"He was an inmate there.
"He had been issued with a knife.
"The knife was to be used in the preparation of vegetables.
"It is also obvious that it is capable of being a formidable weapon.
"Suddenly and without warning he used it on another inmate.
"He stabbed him in the abdomen, and the other man died as a result.
"What he did was without any possible justification or excuse at all.
"He was not defending himself.
"It was not an accident.
"He was seen to do it.
"He admitted what he had done to a fellow inmate in the immediate aftermath of the stabbing.
"Faced with that evidence after he had been arrested he would say nothing to the police.
"The prosecution say they are giving evidence for the right reasons.
"The defendant did something unforgivable, he killed a man in a brutal and cowardly manner and they have decided to stand up and be counted."
Alexander Cusworth was born and raised in Stafford and had been looked after by the councillor and her late husband Howard Cusworth from the age of nine.
Mrs Edgeller had been due to visit Cusworth in prison the weekend before his death.
But could only speak to him on the telephone after her car broke down four miles short of completing the journey, meaning she missed her allotted time slot.
Speaking after his death, she said he 'was making such good progress' after a troubled start to life.
The jury was told Liverpudlian Tolcher was convicted of murdering a woman in Newquay, Cornwall, in 1996 and was serving a life sentence for killing Catherine Sharples.
The court was told Tolcher also admitted causing actual bodily harm in an attack on a prisoner in 2003.
Tolcher denies murder and his trial continues.
