Walsall thug who slit throat of woman with broken beer can gets 10 years

Deborah Wakelman was repeatedly stamped on the face, throttled with a cord and slashed across the throat with a broken beer can by mentally disturbed Mark Davies, a judge heard.

Hours earlier she told a passing policeman she had swallowed something 'spiked' with the synthetic drug Black Mamba, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Davies assured the officer he would 'look after' the woman, a well known alcoholic and rough sleeper in the area, revealed Mr Howard Searle, prosecuting.

But the defendant brutally attacked Miss Wakelman on the stairwell of the multi storey Asda car park in George Street, Walsall during the early hours of September 6 last year.

A security guard spotted him but Davies disappeared before the man returned with a supervisor and found the victim lying on her back between the second and third floors.

Documents found at the scene were linked to the attacker and he was arrested at the home of his mother later the same day.

The 31-year-old explained that voices in his head had told him Miss Wakelman was the devil and a demon, continued Mr Searle.

Davies admitted throttling and stamping on her before breaking open a beer can and using the jagged edge to slit her throat.

He was sectioned after self harming and detained at the Raeside Clinic in Rubery for a short time before being allowed back into custody, the court heard.

The victim was taken to hospital where two cuts to her throat required 12 stitches. Her neck was badly swollen and her face battered but she had little recollection of what happened.

She is reminded of the attack whenever she sees her scars in the mirror but has stopped drinking and is turning over a new leaf in another part of the country.

Davies, from Woodhouse, Caldmore who had threatened a paramedic with a knife in an unrelated incident two months earlier, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and admitted representing a danger to the public.

Mr Stephen Cadwaladr, defending, explained: "He has irrational fears of a repeat of this type of incident if he hears more voices telling him to do something. Honestly, and unusually, he accepts he meets the legal criteria of a dangerous individual."

Judge Nicholas Webb said while sentencing Davies: "You were under the influence of drink and possibly drugs when you did this. You accept you have a mental condition that could force you to repeat this type of crime and pose a significant risk to members of the public."

Davies was given an extended sentence, meaning he must serve at least two thirds of the term behind bars, can only be released when the parole board considers it safe to do so and will be monitored for five years long than normal when freed.