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Wolverhampton crack cocaine dealer jailed for life for fatal stabbing

A crack cocaine dealer from Wolverhampton has been jailed for life after stabbing a father to death.

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Daniel Quinn, 28, will serve at least 27 years behind bars after fatally knifing Daniel Fitzjohn twice in the abdomen in a blind rage as the victim shouted out: "I don't know you. You have got the wrong guy."

Co-defendant Parminder Sanghera, 25, also of Wolverhampton, was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison for manslaughter.

Parminder Sanghera

Northampton Crown Court heard there had been a scuffle outside Fairfield News in Kingsley, Northampton, at 9.25pm on June 14 last year.

It involved Quinn and a man who regularly bought drugs from him. The victim, who had never been involved in drugs or the police, intervened and punched Quinn to the ground.

The humiliated drug dealer drove his Mini at the group before going off to find Sanghera, who was in a nearby house in Northampton.

They drove back to the scene armed with a kitchen knife and machete, with Quinn being in what the judge described as "a blind rage."

Quinn and Sanghera saw the group, which scattered, but Mr Fitzjohn, who was wearing a distinctive striped shirt, was seen again by the pair. Quinn got out of the Mini and stabbed Mr Fitzjohn. The victim ran away but was followed and stabbed a second time.

Mr Fitzjohn, 34, the father of a five-year-old boy, was rushed to hospital in Northampton, but died half an hour later.

Quinn went on the run from police, hiding out in Wales for a few days, handed himself in on June 19 2018 after being identified from a taxi driver's dash cam footage.

The weapons used were never recovered.

Victim Daniel Fitzjohn

Judge Rupert Mayo jailed Quinn for life telling him: "Mr Fitzjohn has been described as being in wrong place at wrong time. It sets his senseless killing into the right context."

Roy Fitzjohn, Daniel's father, said he was in the United States when he heard of his son's death, which left him feeling "anger and felt numb." He said he had been left with feelings of "despair and helplessness" and "had lost a treasured loved one in a brutal way."

He said Daniel had a young son and was an "involved and active father."

His mother Sharon added: "He was such a good person. He worked so hard and everyone who knew him loved him so much. 400 people attended his funeral."

Detective Chief Inspector Ally White said: “Daniel Fitzjohn was by all accounts, a very decent, mild-mannered man with no history of involvement with the police or with drugs. He was simply caught in the wrong place at the wrong time by a drug dealer who stabbed him to death in a fit of anger.

“I am very pleased that we have managed to get justice for Mr Fitzjohn and his family and I would like to take this opportunity to commend them all for the bravery they have shown throughout the trial – the things they have seen and heard, including the moment Daniel was stabbed, will have left a mark that will never fade.

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