Man stabbed to death on own doorstep in row over £300, court hears

George Dore was allegedly knifed by three attackers: ‘I heard a horrible noise and thought he was having an asthma attack [but], when I saw him, he had a big hole in his chest,’ partner recalls

Fell Lane, Keighley (Google)

A man was brutally stabbed to death on his own doorstep in a row over £300, a court has been told.

George Dore, 42, died after being knifed in the chest outside his home in the West Yorkshire town of Keighley.

Anthony Atha, 53, Angela Thornton, 48, and Leslie Walker, 46, all deny murder.

Simon Kealey, prosecuting, said the trio had all been drinking and smoking crack-cocaine before taking a taxi to Mr Dore's home at 3am on the morning of 8 April.

He alleged Thornton was heard saying she "wanted her £300" by the driver, while both video and audio footage would provide jurors with evidence of their intentions to seek money from him.

And he told Bradford Crown Court that when they arrived at Mr Dore’s home they shouted and kicked at his front door demanding cash.

Giving evidence, the victim’s partner, Michaela Roberts said he would not have owed them money. She said that, as Mr Dore opened the door, she heard him say: “This is Fell Lane not Lumb Lane.”

They stabbed him anyway, the prosecution alleges. CCTV from a nearby shop caught the moment he fell onto the pavement. The whole incident lasted less than two minutes, the jury was told according to the BBC.

"I heard a horrible noise and thought he was having an asthma attack [but] when I saw him he had a big hole in his chest," Ms Roberts said.

Atha, 53, of West Bank Close, Keighley, Thornton, 48, and Walker, 46, both of Nightingale Street, also Keighley, have all been charged with murder because there was "no direct evidence" of who inflicted the fatal stab wound.

The trial continues.