Langham man guilty of attempted murder of Oakham woman jailed
A man with an 'appalling history' of violence against women, has been jailed after stabbing his 'friend' 10 times.
Robert Truscott, 48, of Lowther Close, Langham, was sentenced today (Wednesday, February 2) at Leicester Crown Court, having been found guilty of attempted murder by a jury last month.
A jury previously heard that while drunk Truscott went to Emma Wolfenden's home in Bullfinch Close, Oakham, armed with a knife on January 21 last year.
He also caused injury to a 26-year-old man, who Miss Wolfenden had met for the first time that night after connecting on the dating website Tinder.
After the man left, Truscott stabbed Miss Wolfenden 10 times. She survived the stabbing but died, aged 37, in June last year due to unrelated circumstances.
After finding Truscott guilty of attempted murder last month, the jury was told about his previous offences, which included punching a former girlfriend and setting fire to her flat.
He was sentenced to four years in prison but after his release forced his way into her home and attempted to strangle her. For that he received a seven-year jail sentence.
Miss Wolfenden suffered from alcohol dependency and had been to rehabilitation a number of times. Her relationship with Truscott was based on alcohol provision.
At the sentencing hearing today, His Honour Judge Philip Head said: "She was a vulnerable woman as you well know, she was alcohol dependant with a history of attempting rehabilitation.
"There's a strong indication you are attracted to such women.
"A previous victim was simply troubled."
Judge Head described how Truscott 'bombarded' Miss Wolfenden with messages and was 'obsessed' with her.
Leading up to the incident, Truscott began inundating her with messages and calling her number, which Miss Wolfenden began to ignore, until she told the defendant on January 21 that she was meeting someone else.
He replied he was ‘not interested’ but called her 21 times in the hours leading up to the incident and made a further five attempts in a space of two minutes shortly before.
The pair also had a 12 minute phone call which Miss Wolfenden answered but Truscott said he couldn't remember what was said.
Later on in the evening of January 21 Miss Wolfenden’s Tinder date spoke on her to Truscott phone after being told by the victim that he was her ‘stalker’. The man told Truscott ‘she’s not interested’ but Truscott didn’t respond.
Truscott then cycled from his home in Langham to Bullfinch Close in Oakham carrying the knife with him in his coat pocket.
When he got there, Truscott held the knife to the man’s neck and when he tried to grab the knife, the man’s hand was injured.
A fight took place between Truscott and the other man, who eventually hit Truscott over the head with a bottle of rum, while Miss Wolfenden called 999.
After the fight, Truscott gave the man a towel to stop his hand bleeding.
He then went back to the kitchen and held Miss Wolfenden with a sharp weapon against her neck.
Believing that he was causing the aggravation, the man snorted a line of cocaine, before leaving Miss Wolfenden, who had also been drinking, and Truscott in the house alone as he believed he was “making it worse”.
Truscott then used a second kitchen knife, believed to have come from a knife block in the kitchen, to stab Miss Wolfenden, before calling the emergency services to get the victim medical attention.
He can be heard telling the call handler, 'I actually done it...I stabbed her'.
The call handler then instructed Truscott to give Miss Wolfenden medical attention to help with the bleeding.Truscott fetched a towel and applied pressure to the open wound on Miss Wolfenden's neck which was heavily bleeding.
Throughout the trial, Truscott has said he can’t remember stabbing Miss Wolfenden and answered ‘I don’t know’ to many of the questions put to him.
"You claim to have no memory although you were able to give your own detailed account before and after," said Judge Head.
"The jury clearly did not accept this.
"You planned this attack."
Sentencing Truscott to a 29-year prison term today, Judge Head said: "You are a very serious danger to the life and physical wellbeing of women.
"You have several times entered into some sort of relationship obsessed with women then committed violence. You were obsessed with Emma Wolfenden.
"You are emotionally incapable of accepting rejection and you react to that with extreme violence."
He added: "Given the history I have considered imposing a life sentencing. However, I do need to consider the offence itself.
"You are now 48. I shall impose an extended sentence taking into account that before you are even considered for release you will be very much an older person.
Truscott was sentenced to 29 years in prison for attempted murder as well as 33 months concurrently for causing grievous bodily harm and 18 months concurrently for possession of a bladed article.
He must serve two-thirds of his sentence before being able to apply for release on licence.
Due to Miss Wolfenden having died, her brother, Charles, submitted a pre-sentencing report on her behalf which was read out in parts by the prosecutor, Andrew Peet.
He said: "Emma was frustrated with the life changing injuries. Mr Wolfenden said he wanted the court to be aware of her struggle with what he did to her.
"She awoke to find pieces of her body had been removed including countless scars.
"She had to adapt to daily living, having a stoma and limited use of her arms.
"She also struggled with mental health as she did not feel safe in her own home. This was taken away from her by Robert."
It was also noted the mental struggles the male victim faced, including 'survivor guilt', as well as the injury on his hand from where he grabbed the blade.
Defence lawyer Jonathan Dunne, on behalf of Truscott, said the defendant was remorseful for what he had done, including moments after the incident when he called the emergency services and told police officers 'he done it'.
