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Colchester: Mum and child in knife ordeal

From the archive, first published Monday 7th Jun 2004.

A man held a young child as he slashed himself with a knife and said he wanted to die.

When police broke into the Colchester flat where Darryl Trentham was holding the child, he told officers to shoot him.

A court heard how 21-year-old Trentham was depressed as his girlfriend and child were planning to leave the country and start a new life in Spain.

A row between Trentham and former partner Jodie Williams started, but when she tried to leave his flat in Chapel Street North, he produced a knife and held it to her throat.

At one point, Trentham was holding the child and was inflicting injuries on himself with the knife, Gareth Hughes, prosecuting, told Chelmsford Crown Court.

A BB gun was also produced but it was not used to threaten anyone during the incident last October, the court heard.

Miss Williams received injuries to her fingers caused when she tried to take the knife from Trentham. The child was not injured, Mr Hughes said.

Police forced their way into the flat and Trentham said to officers he wanted to die.

Trentham, now of Deeping St James, near Peterborough, admitted charges of actual bodily harm to Miss Williams and affray. He was jailed for 12 months.

David Holborn, mitigating, said Trentham's unhappy and deprived background played a part in the way he acted

Published Monday June 7, 2004

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