thug handed four life sentences for murdering Harry Potter actor

Knife thug handed four life sentences for murdering Harry Potter actor and wounding his friends

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:34 PM on 05th March 2009

A serial knife attacker who stabbed Harry Potter actor Rob Knox to death was sentenced to life today and told he would be behind bars for at least 20 years.

Cannabis addict Karl Bishop, 22, was found guilty yesterday of murdering the 18-year-old, who was stabbed five times outside a club in their home town of Sidcup, south-east London, last May.

He was also convicted of injuring four of the actor's friends.

Dean Saunders, 23, was stabbed in the neck and suffered permanent spinal damage.

Andrew Dormer, 17, was stabbed in the chest as he tried to disarm Bishop.

Nicky Jones, 20, was knifed in the hand and Charlie Grimley, 17, was stabbed in the face and arm.

Mr Justice Bean told Bishop: 'You are at present a highly dangerous man.

'There is plainly a very significant risk to the public of serious harm caused by your committing further specified offences of violence.

'I do not think it is proved that you intended to kill Robert Knox. The truth is that you simply could not care less whether you killed him or not.

'The same goes for Dean Saunders, who was lucky to survive.

'When you learned that you had killed Rob your only response was to say "Yeah, sweet."

'Your lack of regret, let alone remorse, was truly chilling.'

The judge said he wanted the sentence to be a deterrent because too many teenagers were being killed with knives.

He added: 'Rob Knox was a promising young actor, who achieved a great deal in his sadly short life, and the case has attracted publicity for this reason.

But you do not get an extra sentence because Rob was well known.

'The case would be just as serious, and just as tragic, if the murder victim had been an 18-year-old known only to his family and friends.'

The judge said he was sure Bishop had armed himself for revenge and had then dared anyone to fight him.

Bishop yesterday refused to hear the jury's verdicts at the Old Bailey.

As he awaited sentencing this morning, it emerged that he was accused of a knifepoint robbery in March last year.

But even though he had already been jailed for a knife attack, detectives failed to follow up the complaint.

This meant that two months later he was free to kill 18-year-old Robert with two 12in kitchen knives during a bloodbath in a suburban bar.

Friends of the family said Robert's father Colin believed his son would still be alive today if the complaint had been dealt with correctly. Two Scotland Yard officers have been disciplined over the scandal.

Robert was stabbed to death at the Metro Bar in Sidcup as he confronted Bishop over threats made to his younger brother Jamie, then 17.

During the frenzied 90-second attack, Bishop - whose face was 'screwed up in rage' - stabbed six people 11 times with the two knives. In an apparent reference to the Dirty Harry films starring Clint Eastwood, he said: 'Who's going to make my f****** day?' before lashing out.

Robert was knifed five times. The fatal stab wound ruptured an artery close to his heart and he died in hospital soon afterwards.

The attack came after a series of run-ins between Robert and his friends and Bishop. In the same bar a week earlier, Bishop, from Sidcup, threatened Robert for having the temerity to stand up to him following a row over a lost mobile phone. He warned: 'I'm going to come back next week and someone is going to die.'

He had been acting since joining a drama school at the age of 11 and had already had parts in ITV's The Bill and BBC's When You've Gone with Nicholas Lyndhurst. His father and mother Sally separated a year ago.

Colin Knox collapsed in tears yesterday as the jury unanimously found Bishop guilty of his son's murder plus three counts of wounding with intent.

Before passing sentence Mr Justice Bean heard impact statements from both of Robert's parents.

In her statement read to the court, Sally Knox said: 'As a mother and parent, I can never forgive the person responsible for taking my son Robert's life, or the devastation that has been caused by these actions.'

During the trial, prosecutor Brian Altman QC described Bishop as a habitual knife carrier who 'carried knives like others carried pens in their pockets... he quite happily thinks little or nothing of stabbing others as if it were some occupational hazard'.

Bishop himself admitted he regularly carried knives for 'protection innit?'. He said that at the time of the stabbings the 'red mist' had descended and he 'didn't care' what happened.

His criminal record began at the age of just 14 with petty crimes and anti-social behaviour. By the age of 16 - having been expelled from school for his angry outbursts - he was being investigated for threatening a man with a knife. On that occasion the charges did not stick and the case against him was dropped.

But in December 2004 he slashed the same man and his friend with a knife as they waited at a taxi rank in Bromley. They had tried to intervene as Bishop pestered a distressed young woman. Both men suffered wounds to their faces.

Bishop was sentenced to four years in a young offender institute in May 2005 after being convicted of GBH. He was released on licence in March 2007.

The following March he was named as a suspect in one knifepoint robbery but there was thought to be insufficient evidence.

Two days later he was said to have threatened a man with a knife in a row over drugs. Police were informed but they failed to act.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission confirmed that two Metropolitan Police officers had been disciplined over the handling of that complaint.

A friend of Colin Knox said: 'He cannot believe what has happened. He is astonished that Bishop was not picked up for this after a complaint was made.

'He truly believes his son could still be alive if the police had done their job properly.'

He needs to be locked up in Broadmoor for the rest of his natural life, or better still let one of the animals from Broadmoor loose on him.