A knifeman chased a father down a Nottinghamshire street before stabbing him to death outside a pub, as revealed by CCTV footage. Brandon Byrne, 23, murdered 40-year-old James Cook after an argument in the Loose Cannon pub in Newark on the night of April 30 last year. On Friday, Byrne was jailed for life with a minimum 23-year term after being found guilty of murdering the father-of-three.
The Incident
Nottingham Crown Court heard that the men had been inside the pub, standing in separate groups around a pool table. A fistfight began after 'something was said' that caused the pair to 'suddenly boil over.' Byrne, then 22, suffered a significant facial injury and hunted Mr Cook down in revenge after both were ejected from the pub. After leaving through a back door, Byrne pulled out a knife and walked towards the front of the pub, where Mr Cook had left with his group. CCTV showed Byrne walking slowly carrying the knife down Stodman Street around 11.50pm. He then chased Mr Cook and stabbed him before kicking him in the head and stabbing him again as he lay on the ground.
Victim Impact
Mr Cook was pronounced dead shortly after midnight. Byrne was tracked down and arrested at 4.09am that day. When confronted by officers about the murder, father-of-two Byrne asked: 'Did he die?' He had denied murder, claiming self-defence, but pleaded guilty to possessing an offensive weapon in public. Before sentencing, Mr Cook's wife Adele described him as the 'greatest dad and the greatest love of my life' in her victim impact statement. 'He was my partner, my protector and my best friend. To my children, he was their hero.' One of Mr Cook's three daughters stated that Byrne was 'the monster who stole my dad like he was nothing.' Another said she now feels 'a type of hurt that cuts through you like a knife that no one should go through.' Mr Cook's mother Evelyn Pepper said: 'He loved life and adored his three daughters who were his world. He was just 40 years old when his life was cruelly ended in this way and I cannot begin to tell you about the devastating impact this has had on his family. I wake up every morning thinking his death was a bad dream that will end.' Peter Cook, the victim's father living in Queensland, Australia, added: 'Despite the distance between us we were extremely close and we were always there for each other. I am not the man I once was, I am broken.'
Sentencing Remarks
Sentencing, Judge Steven Coupland said the murder was motivated by 'anger and revenge.' He noted Mr Cook was 'a hard worker, someone who showed love and a desire to help others and someone who was described as cheeky and a charmer. His loss will be deeply felt by his family and friends. This case is a tragic example of what can happen when anyone carries a knife in public. What you did shows you were acting out of revenge. Rather than stay and help Mr Cook you walked off and left him. I am satisfied there was an intention to kill.'
Police Statement
Detective Constable Kimberley Priestley, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: 'Brandon Byrne turned the lives of James Cook's family upside down. They've been put through hell since he produced a knife and callously murdered their loved one with it that night on 30 April last year. That senseless decision came only minutes after the two men had a fight in a Newark pub which resulted in Byrne sustaining a facial injury. Byrne was clearly enraged by this and refused to let it go, instead deciding to hunt Mr Cook down and stab him to death in the street. If that disgraceful display of violence wasn't bad enough, Byrne then made things even worse in the months that followed with his not guilty pleas. While the outcome of this trial and the sentencing that has now been passed will never bring Mr Cook back, our hope is that it will help his family as they continue to grieve.'
