Exchange Chambers barristers secure murder conviction

July 26, 2016

Simon Medland QC (lead counsel) and Steve McNally from Exchange Chambers have secured a murder conviction in a trial at Preston Crown Court.

Robert Kay, 48, knifed Ian Dollery, 51, more than 30 times in an unprovoked attack at the victim’s home in St Annes, Lancashire, in June 2015.

Mr Dollery’s wife and 21 year old daughter managed to fight off Kay but Mr Dollery later died from his injuries.

Kay, who has schizophrenia, was found guilty of murder by a jury at Preston Crown Court and jailed for life.

He accepted he had killed Mr Dollery, but claimed his responsibility was diminished due to schizophrenia, which was formally diagnosed following his arrest. The jury concluded, however, that the primary cause of his psychosis at the time of the killing was voluntary intoxication caused by a cocktail of drink and drugs.

Sentencing Kay, the Honorary Recorder of Preston, Judge Mark Brown, described the attack as “savage and brutal” on a “wholly innocent man”.