Man guilty of stabbing his ex

“I’m going to kill you,” were the words uttered by Paul Owen Henry to his former partner Claire Boswell - before police received a call of her pleaing for help.

Now, after being found guilty, Henry has been warned he could be locked up indefinitely for ‘public protection’ after a jury at Lincoln Crown Court found him guilty of attempted murder by an 11-1 majority verdict.

Henry, 46, from Lea Place, was charged with the attempted murder of Claire Louise Boswell, 44, after he was accused of attacking her with a knife at her home address on Glentham Road on the afternoon of Thursday 15th September 2011.

Adjourning sentence until November, Judge Micheal Heath told Henry he needed a report from the probation service to help consider the level of danger he posed.

Judge Heath warned Henry: “I am considering passing an indeterminate sentence for public protection.”

Robert Underwood, prosecuting, said Miss Boswell, a mother of three, had been harassed by Henry for three or four years before he stabbed her - and over 40 complaints were made about him to police.

The jury was told Miss Boswell retreated into her daughter’s bedroom after Henry used a plant pot to break in. But Henry clambered over the bed towards Miss Boswell with a knife taken from her kitchen, and thrust that knife to the right side of her chest. Miss Boswell suffered a pierced liver and was taken to Lincoln Hospital, then transferred to Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham

The day before the attack, Henry was arrested for breaching his restraining order when he climbed up to a first-floor window to harass her at home. The next day, magistrates handed him an eight-week suspended prison sentence. Afterwards, he called Miss Boswell to say “I’m out”, before making his way back to her home address.

“At around 5.15pm on 15th September, Claire was in her own home upstairs when she saw Paul Henry in her back garden,” said Mr Underwood. “Mr Henry had climbed a fence to gain access to her garden. He then picked up a plant pot, hurled it through a large window and entered the kitchen where he picked up a knife.”

When interviewed by police, he admitted breaking into her house and getting a knife from her kitchen, but said he just intended to sit down and talk to her. The court heard how Henry ran upstairs after her, shouting: “I’m going to kill you.”

Mr Underwood added: “He went into the bedroom where Claire Boswell was. She was pressing an alarm button that the authorities had provided for her on an earlier occasion.”

Miss Boswell then dialled 999 and was heard shouting during the call: “Help! Get out!”

Henry later told police: “I didn’t want to kill her or ‘owt like that.

The jury were told Henry had a string of previous convictions for violence, including grievous bodily harm, assault and using a knife to cut the fingers of a male relative of his then girlfriend. He was remanded into custody and will be sentenced on 9th November.

A Lincs Police spokesman said: “We hope this conviction encourages victims of domestic violence to approach us for help. The victim here suffered at the hands of Henry for around a decade and we hope that this outcome gives her the opportunity to move on with her life.”