Danny Irons murder trial: Sheffield stab victim suffered fatal seven-inch deep wound through his heart

A Doncaster Crown Court trial has heard this week how Ross Turton and Danny Chadwick, both aged 30, have been accused of murdering 32-year-old Daniel Irons, known as Danny, after he collapsed and died of a stab wound on Fretson Green, at Woodthorpe, Sheffield, following a confrontation at a nearby park.

Simon Kealey QC, prosecuting, claimed the defendants had gone out armed with a knife looking for Mr Irons because they had allegedly believed he was going to burgle a house with their cannabis crop on Fretson Road South.

Mr Kealey added that Daniel Irons had been with a friend who was chased by Mr Turton after the stabbing, and as Mr Irons fled with a fatal wound he was pursued by Mr Chadwick until he collapsed on Fretson Green.

Pathologist Dr Charles Wilson confirmed the cause of death was a seven-inch deep stab wound to Mr Irons’s chest which penetrated a rib, his heart and lungs.

Dr Wilson told the jury: “This wound has passed from the deceased’s left to right and it has gone slightly up and slightly backwards through the heart.”

The pathologist also confirmed the wound was 18cm, or seven inches, deep and that Mr Irons lost over two litres of blood.

He said: “This is a very, very profound blood loss that was almost certainly fatal and the lungs weren’t working well because there was a stab wound to the lung and if the heart has holes in it, it cannot function properly.”

Dr Wilson added that the wound had gone in through the left side of the front of the chest through the top of the left lung and straight through the heart and into the right lung.

He added that the knife had penetrated through the bone of a rib which meant it would have been very sharp and that there would have had to have been a lot of force.

Dr Wilson said: “It would have been really, really difficult to treat this wound even if there had been a cardiothoracic surgeon on hand.

"This was always going to be, in my view, a fatal injury.”

Prosecuting barrister Mr Kealey told the jury Daniel Irons was captured on CCTV footage running around the side of the park and along an adjoining street before suddenly collapsing face down in the middle of the road.

Dr Wilson added that despite the severity of the injury people with stab wounds, even to the heart, can be capable of purposeful movement before he would expect them to collapse.

A post mortem examination confirmed father-of-three Daniel Irons, who lived at homes in Hackenthorpe, Sheffield, and Rotherham, died from a deep stab wound to his chest.

Both defendants were interviewed by the police but they declined to answer any questions about their alleged involvement in the death of Daniel Irons.

Ross Turton, of Danewood Avenue, Woodthorpe, Sheffield, and Danny Chadwick, of Melville Drive, Woodthorpe, Sheffield, have both pleaded not guilty to the murder of Daniel Irons.

The trial continues.