'I will cut his head off': Jobless Keith Baldock threatened to kill friend with chainsaw in Seasalter
by Alex Claridge
A jobless man threatened to cut his his former friend's
head off with a chainsaw in a row over a Land Rover with chip fat
in the engine.
Keith Baldock, 33, went to Daniel Hamilton-Harris's home in
Seasalter's Lucerne Drive after an argument over the Land Rover
boiled over.
Canterbury Crown Court heard Baldock stood outside the
house with the chainsaw running (similar to one pictured
right) and urged Mr Hamilton-Harris to come down.
Mr Hamilton-Harris replied: "No, you've got a chainsaw." He then
called police who arrested Baldock.
Baldock then told a policeman: "I will cut his head off. He
thinks he's a hard man, but he won't face me."
And to another officer he said: "I will kill him. I will kill
him with my bare hands."
Prosecutor Jim Harvey said the row between the pair started
because Mr Hamilton-Harris had mixed chip fat and diesel and put it
in the engine of his Land Rover.
Baldock offered to repair it and took money for the work, but Mr
Hamilton-Harris was not happy with the work.
There were a series of texts between and they spoke to one
another in a pub before events culminated in the incident on
October 14.
Baldock, of Joy Lane, Whitstable, admitted possessing an
offensive weapon, affray and making threats to kill.
Chris Harding, defending, said there had been degree of
provocation to Baldock's actions.
He said: "This was rather an unpleasant atmosphere which had
grown and grown.
"It is inexcusable, but it can be explained. He lost his temper
and what he did was very ill-considered and inappropriate.
"There is an element of provocation which cannot be excluded. It
was an unfortunate conglomeration of factors."
Baldock was given an 18-month prison sentence - suspended
for two years.
01/03/13
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