Murderer Ross Turton jailed for life after fatal Sheffield stabbing of Sheffield dad Danny Irons

Doncaster Crown Court heard during a three-week trial how cousins Ross Turton and Danny Chadwick, both aged 30, had denied murdering 32-year-old Daniel Irons, known as Danny, after he collapsed and died of a stab wound on Fretson Green, Manor, Sheffield, following a confrontation at a nearby park.

But a jury found Turton, of Danewood Avenue, Manor, Sheffield, guilty of murder and found Chadwick, of Melville Drive, Manor, Sheffield, not guilty of murder or manslaughter.

Judge Roger Thomas sentenced Turton on January 10 to life imprisonment and told him he must serve a minimum of 25 years before he can be considered for release allowing for time already spent while remanded in custody.

The judge told Turton: “You confronted Danny Irons and almost immediately on coming into range you plunged the knife into him.”

He added: “He had no chance of defending himself. You struck him with a substantial blow with a substantial weapon.”

Simon Kealey QC, prosecuting, had told the jury the defendants had gone out to check on a cannabis crop at a house on Fretson Road South because they feared it was going to be burgled and that was when they came across Danny Irons and his friend Peter Taylor.

But Mr Chadwick claimed he had no involvement in the cannabis crop which he said Turton had been overseeing for someone else and that he had not known Danny Irons had been stabbed after the confrontation around midnight between April 16 and April 17.

Mr Kealey said Turton stabbed Mr Irons before chasing Peter Taylor, and as Mr Irons fled with a fatal wound he was pursued by Mr Chadwick until he collapsed on Fretson Green.

Mr Chadwick said he later met Turton who told him he thought he had stabbed Danny Irons and he pulled a knife out of his pocket. Mr Chadwick admitted they discarded the knife in a canal.

Turton admitted he had been looking after the cannabis crop for another person and he and Chadwick went to check on it after he had received phone notifications there had been a disturbance and that was when they came across Danny Irons and Peter Taylor.

He had claimed Danny Irons had swiped at him with a knife before he stabbed him in self-defence.

Turton said he and Mr Chadwick later met at Melville Drive before Turton realised he had blood on his blade and they both drove an Audi to a canal near Centertainment and disposed of the blade.

The defendants’ movements in a car and on foot before and after the stabbing were captured on CCTV, according to Mr Kealey.

A post mortem examination confirmed Daniel Irons, who lived in Hackenthorpe, Sheffield, and at Rotherham, died from a seven-inch deep stab wound to his chest which penetrated a rib, his heart and lungs.

John Elvidge QC, defending, said former railway engineer Turton, who has a previous conviction for dishonesty, has been a working man who is considered reliable and trustworthy and his family has been shocked by his conviction.

Judge Thomas told Turton that Danny Irons’s mother Christine described her son as much-loved and that his three children have been left needing support.