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Man who stabbed drunken neighbour to death will face no charges
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| Edwin Pitkin |
A MAN who stabbed to death a drunken neighbour will face no charges, it was revealed today (Friday).
At around midnight on the night of February 29 this year, Edwin Pitkin, of Hertford Road, Enfield, awoke to the noise of Mark Woods, 32, outside his front door trying to get into his house.
Mr Woods, who was described as "very drunk" at the time, had mistaken the house of Mr Pitkin, 58, for his own - just five doors away.
Immediately, Mr Pitkin armed himself with a knife from his kitchen in response to the threat posed by Mr Woods.
When Mr Pitkin opened his front door, Mr Woods continued to try to gain entry into the house, falsely believing in his drunken state that he lived there and was being prevented from entering.
Mr Pitkin told police that during the struggle to prevent Mr Woods from entering, Mr Woods threatened to stab Mr Pitkin's eyes out with some keys he held in his clenched fists.
At that point Mr Pitkin reacted by stabbing Mark Woods once in the chest.
Following his death the keys were later discovered in Mark Woods' clenched fist.
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| Mark Woods |
There was no forensic evidence, eye witness evidence or CCTV imagery which supports any suggestion that Mr Woods was killed unlawfully.
And following a full review of the circumstances surrounding Mr Woods' death, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) today concluded that there is no realistic prospect of conviction for any offence arising out of his death.
Rene Barclay, director of Complex Casework at the CPS, said: "In order to prove the offence of Murder or Manslaughter we have to prove that Mr Pitkin killed Mark Woods unlawfully and not in self defence or in defence of another.
"A person is entitled to use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances for the purpose of self defence, the defence of another, the defence of property or the prevention of crime.
"In assessing the reasonableness of the force used we have taken into account the circumstances as Mr Pitkin believed them to be.
"We therefore concluded that there was no realistic prospect of conviction in this case because there was insufficient evidence to establish that Mark Woods was unlawfully killed."
A former housemate of Mr Woods told the Independent that Woods was "out of it" on the day of his death and had been drinking all day.
He also said it was not the first time Mr Woods, who had a history for drunkenness, had knocked on the wrong door thinking another house to be his own.
Mr Woods had also been forced to move out of a previous home because of neighbourly disputes.
1:42pm Friday 25th April 2008
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