Police break down door of flat after fatal stabbing

Jan 21 2008 by Jule Wilson, The Journal

EIGHT police officers broke into a flat in Sunderland yesterday following a fatal stabbing in the city.

Two police vans were parked outside the home of David McCully, 38, in Grindon Lane, Springwell, for around an hour yesterday afternoon while a thorough search of the property and its surroundings was carried out.

Mr McCully was involved in an altercation with another man at about 9.30am on Saturday when he received a puncture wound from which he later died. The two men were known to each other.

It is thought the fatal injury was inflicted using a broken bottle, and a 37-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder.

Neighbours of the dead man said a fight had broken out between Mr McCully and his attacker which had stretched several hundred yards from his home to the junction of Strathmore Road and Shaftoe Road, where he received the wound which killed him.

A trail of blood which had been covered over by sand since the incident could still be seen for several more hundred yards up Shaftoe Road last night.

Shocked Michael Dee, 37, of Grindon Lane, said he knew the victim.

He said: “I got on with him OK. I’m not surprised it’s happened because I’ve seen fights break out before.

“And I saw the fight start yesterday, but I never realised anyone had been badly hurt.”

It took police officers around 10 minutes to break down the door to the victim’s home before they spent time searching the first-floor flat, its waste bins and its garden.

Northumbria Police has issued an appeal for anyone who may be able to help them trace Mr McCully’s movements in the 24 hours before his death.

Anyone with information is asked to call 0845 604-3043 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.