Killer stabbed man to death

Photo: Courtesy of Mirror

A ruthless killer who plunged two knives into a man’s neck and chest “to see what murder felt like” has been jailed for life. James Hoyle was found calmly packing a bin bag of clothes while his victim’s body lay in a pool of blood next to him.

When police arrested him on suspicion of murder he told them: “There’s no suspicion about this. He’s been dead for half an hour. I’ve killed him.”The 38-year-old had only just been released from prison after serving a five-year sentence for battering a homeless man with a metal bar when he stabbed Lee Doyle to death.

Mr Doyle, a drug addict, was living in the same lodgings as Hoyle in Walton, Liverpool.At around 2am on March 22, neighbours heard a scream and saw bare-chested Hoyle walk out onto the street asking: “Could you phone the police? I seem to have killed a smack head.”Police arrived at the scene to find a “calm” Hoyle who had, without warning, used two knives to stab Mr Doyle four times in the neck and chest, with one of the blades snapping off.

He told them that Mr Doyle had: “Just p***ed me off so I thought sod it and got a knife and stabbed him.”One officer said: “It was a surreal situation and I found Hoyle quite scary. It appeared that he had just murdered somebody but was so calm about it.”Earlier that day Hoyle had told a probation officer that he liked custody and “he would choose if he went back there”.

The self-confessed “hermit” pleaded guilty to murder at Liverpool Crown Court.Prosecutor Ian Unsworth QC said: “The murder was carried out with ruthless precision. One knife struck the heart of the deceased, another severed his jugular vein. The deceased had no chance of survival and died at the scene.”

Michael Davis, defending, said Hoyle had asked him to say very little on his behalf, adding: “He is detached from the situation and lacks any interest in his own life’s worth, which is alarming. Some of the remarks he had made are very chilling.”Sentencing Hoyle to life with a minimum of 23 years before he could be considered for parole, judge David Aubrey QC said: “You told police you had very little care for human life. You told police during your  interview you felt no remorse for that which you had done and you always wondered what it was like to murder someone.

“You said you had no sympathy or empathy. You uttered the chilling comment that they were just words on a Scrabble board.“You are a very dangerous man and are  likely to remain so.”

Source: Mirror