Leicester Teen Guilty Of Attempted Murder

29 April 2019, 16:05 | Updated: 29 April 2019, 16:06

A teenager from Leicester - convicted of attempted murder after planning to kill a man he met on a social networking app - has been sentenced to serve 13 years in prison.

19-year-old Chad Gurney wrote a “murder plan” setting out eight ways he wanted to kill people, including slitting a man’s throat with scissors.

This was the plan he attempted to carry out when he met his victim – who made a lucky escape – on the evening on Sunday 29 July last year.

Gurney, of Saffron Lane, was found guilty of attempted murder in January this year following a trail at Leicester Crown Court.

And today at the same court, he has been sentence for his crime. He must serve 13 years in prison, with an additional five years to be served on licence.

During the trial the court heard how Gurney and his victim started talking on the dating app Grindr and arranged to meet in Aylestone Leisure Centre car park in Knighton Lane East, Leicester.

Shortly after meeting they engaged in consensual sexual activity in a nearby park before walking back to the place they had first met. It was then, shortly before 8.10pm, Gurney attacked his victim with a pair of scissors.

Luckily, despite attempting to stab the man, the defendant only caused minor injury to his victim’s neck before the victim realised what was happening.

Gurney attempted to stab him a second time but his victim had moved away and then fled the scene.

At 10.40pm that evening, the defendant walked into a Euston Street police station and admitted the crime, telling officers he had intended to kill his victim. He later claimed he had made a false confession.

He was arrested and when officers carried out a search of the scene the scissors were located.

His victim reported the incident to police in the early hours of the following morning.

During a search of Gurney’s address officers found a “planning a murder” notebook, along with a diary containing thoughts of murderous intent.

When being interviewed by officers Gurney also admitted he had twice made plans to kill somebody. On one occasion he followed someone over a bridge and was going to attack him from behind but was unable to go through with it.

The second time he planned to lure someone to a disused building but the person never showed up to the location.

In Gurney’s diary he also talked about having already murdered someone but when questioned told officers this was a lie. Officers have conducted preliminary searches in relation to this which have proved negative.