A binman pleaded with police to let him die after he had fatally stabbed his grandmother and her dog, before turning the knife on himself.

Officers found John Squires sitting on the floor of his bedroom in Bright Ridge, Southborough, after they were called by neighbours who heard his grandmother, Sandra Squires, screaming.

A broken knife lay nearby covered in blood that forensic tests later showed to be John’s.

He was bleeding profusely from two wounds to his neck and also had injuries to his chest.

Squires, a refuse collector, initially resisted the officers’ attempts to give him first aid, flailing his arms around and turning onto his stomach to stop them from getting to the wounds.

The 24-year-old was recorded on the police officers’ body-worn cameras pleading with them to let him die.

Despite that, paramedics arriving at the scene at around 11pm on Saturday, August 31, 2024, did their best to save him - even performing an emergency thoracotomy in the street, before he was flown by air ambulance to St George’s Hospital in London where he was operated on.

However, his condition never improved, and on September 3, at 10.20am, he died.

Neighbours raised the alarm after being woken by Mrs Squires’ screams and hearing her repeatedly calling out No, No, No.

Two neighbours looked out to see Mrs Squires stagger down her garden path covered in blood and saw her grandson run up behind her and push her in the back before he ran back inside the house.

When they rushed to the scene, neighbours found Mrs Squires lying on the ground bleeding from her neck and chest and they noticed a small blood-covered five-inch paring knife lying nearby.

They called 999.

Police, who were first on the scene, gave Sandra Squires first aid until paramedics - and later the HEMS team - arrived. She was also given a thoracotomy, but could not be saved. She died at the scene at 27 minutes past midnight - on the day of her 83rd birthday.

Coroner Roger Hatch heard that Squires had experienced a tragic childhood, losing his mother to alcohol at the age of eight. He, his sister Kia and his father - also called John Squires - had moved back in with Sandra Squires, but Sandra and her grandson had always had a fractious relationship and she had “shown him little love.”

His father was described as having “poor parenting skills.”

From the age of 12, John junior began taking drugs and alcohol and soon began to experience anger and depression. In his later years, this developed into paranoia and he began to hallucinate and hear voices.

He had been referred to the children’s adolescent health service which reported he had “problems with anger, especially at his grandmother.”

He often told relatives he couldn’t stand his grandmother and once told his GP that he wanted to harm her.

He had frequent contact with health and social care professionals.

In 2015, he and his sister had been made the subject of a child protection order.

On several occasions, he had attempted to take his own life but had always declined to engage in therapy afterwards.

DS Simon Williams, of the Kent Police major crimes unit, told the inquest at Oakwood Park in Maidstone that Sandra Squires had been married to William (Bill) Squires and they had two children, Lorraine and John William.

Lorraine had later moved away and had no further contact with the family.

John William Squires married Carlena and they had two children: Kia and John Paul Squires.

In 2008, Carlena died and her two children moved in with their grandparents.

Bill Squires died in 2014. John senior died of pneumonia in 2024.

Twice, Squires had inherited considerable amounts of money, amounting to £36,000, but his sister told police that on both times he had frittered the cash away on drink and drugs.

DS Williams said that over the years, there were numerous reports of domestic incidents at the home.

In July 2019, Squires was sentenced to 15 months in a young offender’s institute for assault and causing grievous bodily harm.

Around 2020, Kia moved out of the house and John had lived with various girlfriends but had always returned to his grandmother’s whenever he fell out with them.

That had been the case near the date of the tragedy.

He had split up with his current girlfriend after allegedly assaulting her and being arrested for causing grievous bodily harm, criminal damage and harassment.

DS Williams said it had been a volatile relationship with several reports of domestic incidents.

Nevertheless, the former girlfriend had seen him in the early evening on the night of the tragedy.

She said he had become even more paranoid, which happened when he had consumed too many drugs and alcohol.

She had dropped him back at his grandmother’s house before 9:30pm, observing that as he walked away from the car, his legs were “twitching.”

Kia had also visited him earlier in the day and said he was “talking waffle and couldn’t sit still.”

The last message she had from him was at 9.41pm when he texted her to apologise for being such a bad brother.

Police recovered three bags of cocaine from the house and also three mobile phones, but on two of them, they were unable to gain access to check call records.

There were also open cans of Stella Artois and Captain Morgan pre-mixed drinks in the kitchen.

A post-mortem on Squires found traces of cocaine, benzoylecgonine, MDMA, MDA, Ketamine and diazepam in his bloodstream.

The cause of death was multi-organ failure as a result of penetrating neck injuries.

Several of John Squires’ relatives were in the courtroom and were unhappy that the police report had not been able to establish the exact sequence of events.

“We haven’t actually been told where this all started, or whose blood was found by the front door,” they said.

DS Williams said there had been blood found throughout the property, including blood belonging to the family dog, Buster, a lurcher-cross Staffordshire bull terrier, that had also been stabbed. Buster survived the initial attack but afterwards had to be put down.

Kia Squires said: “My nan and my brother have been let down by the NHS, the doctors, the social workers and the police. Why wasn’t an emergency alarm put in at my nan’s house?

“Two or three days before, Johnboy (her nickname for her younger brother) was arrested, and then he was released without charge to my nan’s address. Why was he released back there?

“Why was he not sectioned? You should have sectioned him!,” she told DS Williams.

Ms Squires, 27, a mother of three, vowed to take the matter further, saying: “There’s no justice for me or my brother.

“We have been failed by all the systems meant to help us. That is why we are at this inquest today.”

“There were so many red flags. The system should have helped them and then they would both be alive today.”

The coroner said it was clear that Squires had wished to take his own life, and recorded the death as suicide.