A drink and drug-fuelled knifeman who stabbed a dad of three to death in a violent confrontation outside a village pub has today been convicted of murder.
William Cosier had claimed he had simply wanted to “scare off” Adam Pritchard, only to come under fire from a BB gun as they fought outside The Queen’s Head in Boughton-under-Blean on March 13 this year.
But the blade he was wielding penetrated Mr Pritchard’s ribcage and into his chest and abdomen to a depth of almost 23cm, causing liver and lung damage.
Canterbury Crown Court heard that just over an hour earlier, the 35-year-old victim had been warned in a series of WhatsApp messages that he would “get hurt” if he showed up at the pub that night.
The gym enthusiast was also told that Cosier, who had been at the pub since lunchtime drinking and snorting cocaine, was “off his head” and could not be stopped.
However, 34-year-old Cosier, who is known as Billy or Bill, maintained during his three-week trial at Canterbury Crown Court that he had no intention of hurting Mr Pritchard when they came face-to-face in the street.
Giving evidence, he told jurors he feared for his life, and could not recall the knife coming into contact with the painter and decorator, who eventually collapsed from massive blood loss and died before he reached hospital.
Cosier, of Well Lane, Fordwich, denied both murder and the alternative, less serious offence of manslaughter.
But the jury of seven men and five women rejected his story to find him guilty of murder, with the verdict met with gasps and tears from Mr Pritchard’s family sitting in the public gallery.
A dad of three himself, Cosier now faces life imprisonment when he is sentenced on November 1.
He showed no emotion in the dock as the verdict was returned but nodded when told by Judge Simon James that although life imprisonment was inevitable, a “quite detailed assessment” was needed to decide the appropriate minimum term he would have to serve before he could apply for parole.
Mr Pritchard, who lived in Faversham with his partner and their young children, was murdered in what the prosecution described as “an act of aggression” after a phone row escalated from “friendly banter” to the gun-wielding confrontation.
Described in court by his partner as “kind, generous and with a heart of gold”, he had only been at the pub in The Street for approximately four minutes when he was fatally wounded shortly before 10.40pm.
Cosier on the other hand had been at the venue since shortly before 1pm with Craig Brabon – a one-time friend of Mr Pritchard’s – and had consumed about six pints of San Miguel, “some” whisky and five or six “pinches” of cocaine.
CCTV captured the moment he and Mr Pritchard first exchanged a few punches in the bar area before Cosier, ignoring the landlady’s desperate pleas, grabbed a knife from a magnetic rack in the pub kitchen.
He then went onto the pavement outside where Mr Pritchard, who had a BB gun, was said to be “beckoning” with shouts of “Come on Bill.”
Cosier claimed that as the confrontation spread across the road he had tried to protect himself as multiple shots were fired at his head, face and body by Mr Pritchard.
Jurors were told however that although it was not “precisely” known when the fatal wound was inflicted or when the gun was discharged, it was the prosecution case that Cosier had not acted in self-defence and that his intent that night was to cause “at the minimum” really serious harm, “if not to kill” the victim.
At the start of the trial on September 17, prosecutor Don Ramble said Mr Brabon and Mr Pritchard had previously fallen out but that evening were communicating via WhatsApp and calls.
The nature and tone of the exchanges veered between “friendly banter and aggression” and at one stage Mr Brabon handed his phone to Cosier so he could speak to Mr Pritchard.
Although the pair did not know each other, CCTV showed Cosier “walking and talking” on the handset in the bar area and outside for several minutes.
It was their argument, said Mr Ramble, that ultimately led to Mr Pritchard showing up at the pub later that night.
However, jurors heard that despite being warned by Mr Brabon he would be harmed if he went to the pub, Mr Pritchard said he wanted a beer and not a fight, and arranged for friend Leigh Bean to drive him there.
As the two men entered The Queen’s Head at 10.35pm, Mr Pritchard went straight up to the bar where he was immediately greeted with a punch from Cosier.
The pair then swapped a number of blows before Cosier, himself a heavily-built man, picked up a stool and Mr Pritchard retreated outside to where, just moments later, he was stabbed.
Describing the build-up in those few minutes, the prosecutor told the court: “He (Adam Pritchard) beckoned Billy Cosier to come outside and that is what he did. He went outside to where Adam Pritchard was.
“But before going outside, he went into the pub kitchen and he grabbed a knife. Ultimately, after he went outside, he stabbed Adam Pritchard with the knife.
“Adam Pritchard, in turn, shot the defendant with the BB gun. Both of them suffered injuries as a result.
“But while Billy Cosier was able to get in his car and drive away, Adam Pritchard died shortly afterwards, having sustained a stabbing injury.”
A heavily-bleeding Mr Pritchard had initially tried to get back into the pub but, as he pleaded for help, the fearful landlady spotted he was holding a gun and so locked him out.
After collapsing in the street several minutes later, he was dragged into his Peugeot car by Mr Brabon and Mr Bean in the hope of getting him to hospital.
Numerous 999 calls had been made, including one by the dying man himself, but they drove Mr Pritchard away from the scene before the emergency services had arrived.
An ambulance was eventually flagged down but sadly, despite the best efforts of paramedics, he died at the roadside.
The gun, bloody from being held by Mr Pritchard against his wound, was found in the car boot.
Cosier in the meantime had fled the pub in his Mercedes, which was found abandoned outside a friend’s house in nearby Colonels Lane the following day.
He was subsequently arrested that same day when he voluntarily attended a police station.
However, the knife used to murder Mr Pritchard was never recovered.
With much of the violent encounter captured on CCTV, the jury were repeatedly shown the footage throughout the trial.
It revealed that before Mr Pritchard had even arrived at The Queen’s Head, Cosier had gone into the kitchen several times, helping himself to knives which were either immediately retrieved by staff or, on one occasion, handed over by him to another customer in the rear garden.
At one point he could even be heard on the camera footage talking about how to “stab someone through the ribs”.
The court was also played a mobile phone audio recording of the commotion outside during which it was alleged Cosier could be heard threatening “I’ll kill you. You’re dead”.
Cosier was himself injured and had to have several metal gun pellets surgically removed at hospital.
But the prosecution maintained his intention that night had been to cause Mr Pritchard really serious harm, if not to kill him.
Referring to the CCTV footage of the fight, Mr Ramble told the court: “The Crown are not in a position to say precisely when the fatal stab wound took place. The Crown are not in a position to say precisely when the BB gun was discharged.
“But we say if you look at the footage, it is William Cosier who is going towards Adam Pritchard, and it is Adam Pritchard who is retreating.”
He continued: “The prosecution case is that when Billy Cosier walked out of The Queen’s Head pub with the knife behind his back, he was not acting in self-defence. He stabbed Adam in an act of aggression – he was acting in an aggressive way.
“In relation to intent, what other intent could he have had when he plunges that knife almost to the handle, and what other intent could he have then causing grievous bodily harm.”
Mr Brabon was not called to give evidence by either the prosecution or defence.
Cosier has been in custody since his arrest.
