Man jailed for 25 years for stabbing incident at multi-storey car park

A man has been jailed for 25 years after a stabbing in Bury St Edmunds.

Alexander Cornell, (pictured above) from Britannia Road, in Ipswich, was jailed at Ipswich Crown Court today, (Thursday, March 9). The court gave him a 20-year prison sentence with an extended licence period of five years.

It follows his trial where he was found guilty of attempted murder at Ipswich Crown Court on Monday, January 23, after a trial lasting six days.

Officers were called at just before 2.30pm on Monday, July 4, last year, to reports a man, aged 41 years old, had been stabbed at Parkway multi-storey car park in the town.

The victim was taken to West Suffolk Hospital for treatment to three stab wounds to his back and neck area – the largest was about 3ins long and caused muscle damage.

Cornell was arrested later the same day and taken to Martlesham Police Investigation Centre for questioning where he was charged.

The 27-year-old pleaded not guilty to attempted murder but pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to wounding with intent and having a blade in a public place.

Enquiries established that Cornell had become obsessed with the victim’s partner.

He and the victim’s partner, a 39-year-old woman, worked together for five years. The court heard how Cornell had bought the woman a multitude of gifts, while the woman also changed her gym three times and on each occasion Cornell started going to the same gym as her, despite her never telling him she had left or re-joined elsewhere. The woman has also repeatedly told Cornell that there was no chance of the two of them being in a relationship.

During the sentencing Judge Levett praised the police and investigative work completed by the officers.

Investigating officer DC Guy Mitchell said: “To see Cornell behind bars for a significant length of time is extremely satisfying as it is very fortunate that the injuries sustained were not ultimately fatal. As I said after the conviction, this was an extremely nasty, violent and pre-meditated attack and Cornell will have plenty of time now to reflect on his actions.

“I’d like to express my thanks to the victim and for the rapid response by all the officers who initially attended the scene and facilitated the arrest. It needs to be stressed that this was a real collective, team effort in preparing the prosecution against Cornell. This includes the work of the Digital Support Officers, who reviewed numerous hours of CCTV footage covering various part of the investigation and the forensics teams in helping preparing the evidence. These thoughts were also echoed by the prosecution counsel.”