Bilston shopkeeper stabbed 40 times by paranoid schizophrenic

Hooded David Dean - now diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic after a lifetime of drug abuse - burst into News and Booze in Bilston Road at around 9.30pm on December 21.

The 42-year-old pulled out a knife and launched a savage, unprovoked assault on Mr Purshotham Lal, who was working alone in the store.

The victim, aged 51, had to fend off around 40 blows from the weapon during the frenzied attack, although not all of them made contact. In a bid to save his life, Mr Lal grabbed a stick and fought back.

Dean finally fled from the scene leaving Mr Lal suffering from potentially lethal stab wounds and requiring surgery for injuries to his chest, knee and hand, revealed Mr Bernard Linnemann, prosecuting at Wolverhampton Crown Court this week. Doctors confirmed that the wounds were life threatening.

The attacker - who had assaulted a neighbour three weeks earlier and received a four-and-half-year sentence in June 1992 for slashing the face of a Wolverhampton shop assistant who needed 43 stitches - was deemed unfit to plead to a charge of attempted murder because of his mental health.

But a jury took just 47 minutes to unanimously decide he was the attacker. They found him guilty of doing the act. Dean did not appear in court and is currently held in a secure hospital where he has been diagnosed as suffering from paranoid schizophrenia following long-term drug abuse that started at the age of 10.

The case was adjourned until early next month while experts rule on the level of danger that he represents to the public. This could result in him being held in a secure hospital indefinitely and only freed if a review tribunal set up by the Home Secretary deems him safe.

Dean left two key clues that led to his identity quickly being uncovered after the stabbing. When the hooded attacker entered News and Booze he said 'alright gaffer?' - the nickname given to Mr Lal by regular customers - and was wearing a striped scarf and gloves.

Less than half an hour later, Dean from Holloway Street, Monmore Green was spotted starting a fire on nearby waste ground. The remains of a scarf and gloves matching those worn by the knifeman were found at the scene.

Forensic analysis revealed blood on the scarf that matched the DNA of the victim and saliva with a billion to one certainty of having come from Dean whose DNA was also found on the gloves.

He denied involvement during police interview and claimed to have lost the gloves and scarf - given to him by his mother Irene - shortly before Mr Lal was attacked.