Last updated 14:43, Tuesday, 22 July 2008

A BARROW man celebrating his 43rd birthday stabbed his gay lover to death, a court heard.

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SCENE OF THE TRAGEDY: Main picture, police vans gather in Penrith Street after the stabbing. Left, victim Paul Taylor

Gary Bowes is said to have plunged a knife up to the hilt into the chest of Paul Taylor and penetrated his heart.

It would have killed the 46-year-old almost immediately, says the prosecution.

The prosecution alleges that Bowes must have known clearly what he was doing when he carried out the stabbing. Bowes, of Penrith Street, Barrow, admits manslaughter, but denies murder.

On the opening day of Bowes’ trial at Preston Crown Court yesterday, the jury heard both men were alcoholics and had been drinking on January 31 this year.

Mr Howard Bentham QC, prosecuting, said that date was a very significant day in the defendant’s life.

Mr Bentham said it was Bowes’ 43rd birthday and also the day he stabbed his lover Paul Taylor to death.

The two men had got up that morning and set about consuming Bacardi almost straight away. Their ordinary consumption was something like half a litre of Bacardi a day, maybe more, each.

Bowes went to visit Yates’s bar in the town and after drinking there, moved on to the Victoria pub in Barrow.

Mr Bentham said the day wore on, but the defendant did not get more friendly.

He consumed more alcohol, was asked to leave the Victoria and he was being unnecessarily unpleasant towards people in the pub.

Mr Taylor was already at their home on Penrith Street at that stage. He had a back problem at the time and in addition to drinking, he had taken more prescribed medication.

The prosecution said alcohol lay at the heart of the case. The two men, being alcoholics, would have had a higher resistance to it, said the prosecution.

Mr Bentham told the jury: “It is my case that although Gary Bowes had taken an awful lot of alcohol, he still knew perfectly clearly what he was doing when he stabbed his lover to death.”

Mr Taylor was killed in the living room. It is said that the stab did not just penetrate clothing and flesh, but also penetrated and cut a rib bone.

During a police interview, Bowes said that by the time he got home he was merry, but not drunk. He had made his way home from the pub, let himself in through the back door and searched for his cigarettes once inside, say the prosecution.

Mr Bentham said: “For reasons we may or may not discover, he selected a knife and he plunged it five inches into the central chest of Paul Taylor.

“It went in to the hilt. It penetrated the right ventricle of Paul Taylor’s heart. It must have killed him almost immediately.

“We, the Crown, say you cannot do that, plunge a knife in that way, without intending at the very least, to do serious harm and probably to kill. We say he still knew what he was doing.”

Bowes dialled 999 and let police and ambulance officers into the home.

By that time, Mr Taylor was dead.

Mr Bentham told the jury: “He agrees that he killed Paul Taylor and that it was unlawful. You have to decide whether you are sure at the time he intended to do serious harm or to kill.“We say he did, he says he didn’t. That is the issue in the case.”

The trial continues and is expected to last several days.