Pic: James Roberts, 32, of Ambleside Avenue, Hornchurch who stabbed the victim to death.
Crime reporter(wp/es):
A man who stabbed a grandfather to death for defending a barmaid at a pub in Essex in a brutal Sunday rampage has been jailed for life.
James Roberts, 32, was in a “foul and aggressive mood” when he knifed 60-year-old Spurs fan Aiden O’Mahoney through the heart in a brutal attack in January last year.
Roberts, of Ambleside Avenue in Hornchurch, began picking flights with pub goers including the victim Mr O’Mahoney, who was quietly enjoying a Tottenham Hotspur game.
The attacker began to threaten the barmaid and granddad Mr O’Mahoney stepped in to defend her.
The argument moved outside and as the pair left the pub, Roberts spun round and lunged towards the victim, stabbing him once in the chest.
On Friday Roberts was handed a life sentence at the Old Bailey and told he must serve a minimum of 23 years for murder.
He was found guilty on Friday, December 23 following a retrial.
Police said others inside the pub had to barricade the doors shut to stop the violent Roberts forcing his way back inside following the fatal attack in the JJ Moons pub in Hornchurch on January 10, 2015.
Roberts eventually fled the scene but was found after a police manhunt.
When the assailant was sentenced, DI Garry Moncrieff said: "There was no reason for Aiden to die that afternoon. He was doing no more than enjoying a drink with friends and watching football. Aiden did not know Roberts and Roberts did not know Aiden.
"Roberts was in a foul and aggressive mood and decided to just take it out on anyone who he felt crossed him.
“Aiden was being a gentleman and tried to help a member of staff who was being violently threatened by Roberts after she asked him to leave. Aiden's brave intervention unfortunately cost him his life.”
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