A man has been jailed for the "completely unnecessary" killing of his sister's ex-partner after he appeared uninvited to her home.
Liam Fosbrook, 29, "took the law into his own hands" and stabbed Dylan Towers, 35, after Mr Towers appeared at his sister's home in Stockport in December 2021, even though he had been banned from contacting her.
With two enormous kitchen knives, Fosbrook went and confronted Mr Towers, who wasn't armed, in the back garden of the property in Brinnington, giving him "at least three" stab wounds to the arm, chest and neck.
Prosecutors believe Fosbrook "did nothing" to help Mr Towers afterwards and returned inside the house. Neighbours rang the police and the court was told the fast actions of emergency services stopped Mr Towers from dying at the scene. But days later in hospital, he succumbed to his injuries.
Liam Fosbrook, 29, repeatedly stabbed Dylan Towers, 35, after he kept turning up at his sibling's house (MEN Media)Fosbrook stood trial twice over the death. At the first trial he was cleared of murder, but the jury was discharged in June last year after they were unable to reach a verdict on the alternative count of manslaughter.
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A re-trial on the manslaughter charge began at the end of February this year and following a two-week he was found guilty on March 8. Today he appeared in Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court to be sentenced.
He was handed a seven-year jail term, and said he must serve at least two-thirds of that before he can be considered for parole. Her honour Judge Tina Landale said she had sentenced Fosbrook on the basis of the evidence heard before her in the second trial only, Manchester Evening News reports.
The court heard Mr Towers and Fosbrook's sister Tara had been together but the relationship had recently broken down. However, he continued to "harass and pester" her.
Police on Exeter Road, Brinnington, Stockport, Greater Manchester, where a man was fatally stabbed on 17 December 2021 (MEN Media)He was made the subject of an exclusion order, prohibiting him from contacting Fosbrook’s sister or going near her home in Offerton. He breached the order on a number of occasions between June and August 2021 by turning up at her house.
Following those breaches, and an alleged assault on her, Mr Towers was made the subject of a domestic violence protection order, which was due to run out on December 16. The prosecution said he was "clearly a nuisance, but he was not dangerous".
The situation was "causing difficulties" for Fosbrook's sister including her children being removed from her care by social services on December 15, 2021, the court heard. Due to concerns she was "suicidal" and "may try to harm herself" Fosbrook was asked to stay that night at his sister's new address on Foliage Crescent in Brinnington and was taken there by police.
Police on Exeter Road, Brinnington, Stockport, Greater Manchester, where a man was fatally stabbed on 17 December 2021 (MEN Media)Judge Landalde said despite being "exhausted by work and a lack of sleep" he had "gone there as a good samaritan in her hour of need". During the course of the evening, police were called after Mr Towers was spotted outside.
He is said to have tapped on a window before "promptly running off" when he spotted Fosbrook. A police officer said when they attended there were several kitchen knives with different coloured handles laid out in "three separate locations" in the living room which "indicated deliberate placing."
Judge Landale said: "The only sensible conclusion is that you laid them out in order to have them available to you if Dylan Towers did get into the house." He was advised by police to "stay inside and contact them" if Mr Towers did return, the court was told.
Mr Towers didn't return that night, but did so in the early hours of December 17 when he came round the back of the house "as a trespassser" and entered the garden. The judge said she accepted Fosbrook "had 'not been sleeping', was 'concerned' for his sister' and had 'never been in a similar situation before."
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However, she said she rejected suggestions from the defence that Mr Towers had tried to enter the property. "The back door was completely undamaged," she said. "You lost patience with Dylan Towers and chose to go and confront him."
She said what followed was "totally uneccessary and disproportionate." Despite claims in the trial he took only one knife out with him, the judge said she was "sure" he took two with him, even if both were not used.
The court was told the pair grappled during which Fosbrook inflicted "at least three" stab wounds. "Covered in blood" he "must have known he was seriously injured" the judge said, but he "took no steps to help him".
One knife was later found in a neighbour's garden while the other was found under a Christmas tree inside the house, both of which contained Mr Towers' DNA. Neil Fryman, prosecuting, said that through their verdict the jury "must have rejected self-defence" as a defence in the case.
Richard Vardon, defending, said: "The deceased chose to be there. He chose not to go when he had been originally confronted. He knew he wasn't welcome. We know this (Fosbrook) was someone who was genuinely fearful for both his sister and for himself."
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