'˜Son of satan' killer should '˜never be allowed to walk in society again'

The daughter of a man brutally murdered in his garage in a random attack said his killer 'should never be allowed to walk in society again.'
St Annes businessman Ian Dollery, with his wife AndreaSt Annes businessman Ian Dollery, with his wife Andrea
St Annes businessman Ian Dollery, with his wife Andrea

Schizophrenic Robert Kay – who claimed he was the ‘son of Satan’ – was yesterday sentenced to life in prison after knifing engineer Ian Dollery at least 30 times in a ferocious attack.

Mr Dollery’s wife Andrea and daughter Grace interrupted the brutal attack and fought Kay off.

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Mr Dollery’s family – who were in court yesterday to see him convicted and sentence – told how the murder had changed their lives forever.

Grace, 22, said: “I didn’t just lose my father that night – my mother can never be the person she was before.

“I may have saved her life that night however I am fully aware she would rather have died there with my dad.”

Andrea, 51, added: “My life, and that of my family and friends, has been shattered into tiny pieces never to be restored. For me, life without Ian is a daily torture.”

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Kay, 49, knifed engineer Ian, 51, at least 30 times in a ferocious and unprovoked attack in the garage of his £450,000 seaside home in York Road, St Annes.

Mr Dollery’s wife Andrea and daughter Grace interrupted the brutal attack and fought Kay off but Mr Dollery died in hospital in the early hours of June 19 last year.

His daughter Grace, 22, said: “Kay should never be allowed to walk in society again.”

On June 18 Mr Dollery was in his garage cutting his hair in preparation for a holiday with his wife Andrea the following day.

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Grace and her boyfriend were visiting and the family had enjoyed a meal together.

But Kay, a schizophrenic and chronic drug abuser, had been drinking and injecting amphetamines at a bedsit nearby.

Armed with a large kitchen knife, jobless Kay went out onto the street and upon seeing the garage door open launched the frenzied and unprovoked attack on Mr Dollery - a complete stranger.

Dollery’s defence lawyer, Andrew Webster QC said: “It was in reality every citizen’s worst nightmare, to brush up against someone in a state like this - completely motiveless and completely unpredictable.

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“The reality is that he was in far from a normal state of mind.”

During the trial friends described Kay as having a split personality - and knew him as Robert when he was behaving nicely and Rob when he was psychotic.

On June 18, Kay had been asked to leave a friend’s house around lunch time when he started ranting about being the son of Satan and claiming he could communicate with the devil through a TV digi-box.

But Kay, of no fixed abode, moved on to the house of a fellow drug abuser where he spent the afternoon injecting amphetamine and drinking super strength lager.

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As Kay’s ramblings escalated, his friends said they feared for their lives as he picked up a large kitchen knife and claimed to have a list of jobs to carry out for Satan.

A few streets away Mr Dollery and his wife were preparing for a family holiday the following day and enjoyed a family meal with their daughter Grace and her boyfriend, who had just moved in to their first home together.

The Honorary Recorder of Preston, Judge Mark Brown, said: “It was a good time for all (the Dollery family) however very quickly - almost in an instant, fate changed everything.

“This was a savage and brutal attack upon a wholly innocent man who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

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“He had no chance of surviving and attack was witnessed in part by his wife and daughter. With some considerable courage they intervened to try to protect him but by then it was too late.”

Kay fled the scene and was arrested at around 11pm after threatening another woman on the street in the seaside town.

During the week long trial at Preston Crown Court, Kay accepted he had killed Mr Dollery but claimed his responsibility was diminished due to his schizophrenia – which was formally diagnosed following his arrest.

The court heard Kay had been reporting symptoms such as hallucinations and hearing voices for more than 20 years but those symptoms were consistent with chronic drug induced psychosis.

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Schizophrenia was formally diagnosed at Ashworth Secure Hospital where he has been detained since his arrest.

Handing down a sentence of life with a minimum term of 23 years, Judge Brown said: “Although you have a long standing mental illness you have failed to co-operate with the mental health services over the years and have continued to take drugs despite knowing they are bad for you.

“At the time of the killing you had taken a lot of amphetamines after others had warned you about that drug and appreciating its effect on you.”