Monster who stalked park for victim before knifing gran to death after warning ‘I’ll kill a random’ is jailed
A MONSTER who stabbed a gran to death after warning “I’ll kill a random” has been jailed for life.
Cameron Davis, 31, stalked Ludwell Valley Park in Devon for a stranger he could attack.
The killer then pounced on 74-year-old Lorna England as she walked home from Lidl – knifing her in the neck and chest.
Dramatic footage showed the moment Davis screamed: “She didn’t die – please tell me she didn’t die?”
He then repeatedly yells “I warned you, I warned you” to officers as they pin him to the ground.
Davis has now been jailed for life with a minimum of 28 years after being convicted of murder.
In a heartbreaking victim impact statement, Lorna’s husband David, who had been with the gran for 54 years, said: “Hopefully your life will not be an easy one – you will always be labelled a granny killer.”
He told how his life has not been the same since his wife was brutally murdered while walking back form the shops.
David added: “She must have been so scared and filled with terror at seeing you with a knife in your hand.
“I hate to think what she must have gone through and the last thoughts in her head as she tried to defend herself.
“This constantly plays on my mind, how someone could be so evil.
“It breaks my heart the last face she saw was yours – a cowardly, brutal monster.
“How could you do something like this to someone so bright, cheery and positive.”
While the couple’s daughter Jackie Baxter said she is tormented by her mum’s final moments as she branded Davis “pure evil”.
Exeter Crown Court was told how leading up to the killing, Davis was living in temporary accommodation provided by a housing association.
On January 23 last year, he demanded he speak to support workers claiming his mental health was deteriorating and that he would “kill a random”.
Between February 9 and 16, the killer was seen by a mental health team who decided he did not need to be sectioned.
Two days later, video captured Davis walking out of A&E before buying two bottles of vodka and a kitchen knife from a supermarket.
Lorna meanwhile was seen leaving the same supermarket on her way home with flour for her husband of 52 years.
Tragically, the pair’s paths crossed as Lorna entered the park where Davis was lying in wait for a victim.
The killer then fled the scene and went drinking in a pub during a five-hour manhunt.
He was eventually arrested by armed police where he yelled out: “I f***** warned you c****, that’s why I f****** done it.
“I didn’t want to but none of you f****** c**** listened.”
After he was taken into custody, Davis claimed the “people at the hospital should pay”.
But during his trial, jurors were told the killer stabbed Lorna because he was “angry and upset” rather than affected by a mental illness to a level that his responsibility was diminished.
Sentencing, Judge Mrs Justice Stacey said Davis “nurtured a sense of self-pity and revenge for not being given a bed in hospital earlier”.
She added: “Lorna fought back valiantly. I’m sure she did everything she could to fight you off – but you stabbed her thorough the heart.
“You callously left her and sauntered off.
“This is not a case of society being failed by police or public services.”