A WOMAN has told how she tried to stop her stepfather being killed by his next-door neighbour after a row over a patch of land where wheelie bins were kept.
Harry Raymond Tindall, 70, was attacked with a hatchet and stabbed to death with a knife outside his detached Rainworth home by Jeffrey Burton, 60.
The brutal killing in front of Mr Tindall's wife and stepdaughter on Boxing Day last year was the climax of an 18-month row between the ex-friends.
They fell out over the strip of land between their homes in Pearl Close.
At Mr Tindall's inquest yesterday his stepdaughter Amanda Richards described how she saw what was happening from a bedroom window and rushed outside to help.
She was staying at the house to visit Mr Tindall and her mum, Mr Tindall's wife Kathleen, for Christmas.
Mr Tindall went outside to move a wooden pallet from the land after it had been put there by Burton.
Ms Richards ran out as Burton grabbed her stepfather in a head lock and repeatedly hit him in the head with the hatchet.
Neighbours came out of their homes and Burton's wife, Jacqueline, also came out of their house next door.
Ms Richards, 45, said she shouted at Mrs Burton to stop her husband, but said she replied: "I'm not, Manda, – he's asked for everything he's got."
Ms Richards then grabbed Burton's wrist, causing him to drop the hatchet.
Ms Richards added: "He then got a knife and I grabbed his wrist again, I said 'you don't want to do this, that's enough'. He said to Jacqui: 'Get her off me, I want to stab him'."
She was unable to prevent Burton delivering a fatal stab wound to the chest of her stepfather.
A post-mortem examination later found Burton inflicted 22 single or groups of injuries.
Mr and Mrs Burton went back into their house after the attack and waited for the police, who arrested Burton.
He was charged with murder but died in prison custody in February at Nottingham City Hospital.
The inquest heard yesterday that Burton was diagnosed with terminal stomach cancer three weeks before the attack.
In statements to police, Mrs Burton said she did not realise how serious the attack was at first, adding: "When I realised he was stabbing him I just couldn't believe what was happening and what I was seeing."
She said after her husband had been diagnosed with cancer he had kept saying "I'm not going to let him (Mr Tindall) bully you when I've gone."
She had also said Burton had told her he was "sorry" for what had happened in the final weeks of his life.
Parts of Burton's interviews with police were also read out, in which he admitted attacking his neighbour and said: "I wish I hadn't done it because I was thinking last night we could have settled this on a cup of tea."
Detective Inspector Sean Bailey, of Notts Police, told the court he had "every confidence" Burton would have been convicted of murder.
He had been due to attend his next hearing at Nottingham Crown Court two days later after he died.
Notts Coroner Mairin Casey recorded a verdict of unlawful killing and said that, while the inquest had not been a trial, she hoped the end of the investigation would bring "some closure" to Mr Tindall's family.
After the hearing Mrs Tindall, 71, said: "Ray was a kind, good humoured family man who would not hurt a fly." His death had "devastated" the family.
She added: "We do not feel like we have achieved justice today and that we've been cheated because the person responsible for Ray's death has not had to stand up in court and answer for what they did."
Ms Richards said: "We had always had a very close relationship and I loved him like a father. I am devastated by his death and witnessing him being so brutally attacked is something I will never be able to forget."
Mr Tindall owned fish and chip shops in Sutton-in-Ashfield and Kirkby-in-Ashfield before retiring.
