Wigan "eye for an eye" machete attack victim: "I thought I was dying"

Patrick Brown, 20, was millimetres from death after the attack by Samson Price, who blamed Brown for the death of his son Samson Jnr, Chester Crown Court has been told.

The jury was shown dramatic, seven-second CCTV footage of Price wielding the machete and hitting Mr Brown outside the PureGym building in Northwich, Cheshire in September 2021.

The sequence from the gym's internal cameras shows Mr Brown trying to run away from Price, 48, and falling to the floor of the gym car park under blows from the machete.

Mr Brown, dressed in shorts, red top and carrying a gym bag over his shoulders, managed to get back to his feet and stumble away from Price as horrified gym-goers looked on and began making 999 calls to the emergency services.

The CCTV footage shows Price leaving the car park 26 seconds after Mr Brown had left the gym.

In an interview with police nine days later from his hospital bed, Mr Brown said:" I thought I was dying."

He said: “I had done my work out and I was texting my mates. I felt a tap to my head and then my back and my leg. I looked up and it was Samson Price with a machete in his hand.

"I went toward the gym and I was trying to get in the gym. I was running away but I collapsed on the floor. I was holding my arms up to protect myself. There were people from the gym who were brave enough to try to scare him off which they succeeded in doing.

"I was covered in blood, there was blood everywhere. I could see my leg with the bone sticking out. I thought I was dying."

The court has been told that Price, 48, from Goose Green, was angry that Brown and others had not been charged with the murder of his son Samson Jnr, 18, who drowned in October 2020.

He was in a group with Mr Brown which went camping near the flash to take the hallucinogenic drug LSD. Samson Price Jnr disappeared during the outing and was later found dead in the water.

Mr Brown was one of the people arrested on suspicion of murder but police later concluded that the death had been an accident, which angered the dead teenager's family.

Prosecuting, Simon Mills has told the jury that the attack on Mr Brown was "an eye for an eye" attack.

The court heard that Price had bought a £49.99 tracker which he fitted to Mr Brown's van eight days before the attack and used it to track him via an app.

Price admits grievous bodily harm with intent but denies attempted murder.

Proceeding