A pedestrian who stabbed a driver to death in front of his young son after the motorist performed an emergency stop to avoid running him over and then angrily shouted at him will be jailed for life.

Alexander Layton was convicted of murdering James Stokoe, a 40-year-old married father, in his BMW in Thornaby, Teesside, in May 2020, following a trial at Teesside Crown Court.

Mr Stokoe had taken his four-year-old to see his grandparents and the boy was strapped in a car seat during the horrific attack.

Layton, 34, from Shackleton Close, Thornaby, denied murder and possessing an offensive weapon, unsuccessfully claiming self-defence.

Peter Makepeace QC, prosecuting, had told jurors that Layton had got off a bus after a trip to a food bank when he crossed a busy main road, causing Mr Stokoe to brake sharply.

The driver was angry and pulled over to shout at Layton, not knowing he was carrying a kitchen knife in his rucksack.

The defendant walked up to the car and, with his victim still behind the wheel, repeatedly stabbed him, causing him to bleed to death within minutes.

Read more here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2021/12/07/watch-pedestrian-guilty-murdering-driver-braked-avoid

Subscribe to The Telegraph on YouTube ► https://bit.ly/3idrdLH

Get the latest headlines: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/

Telegraph.co.uk and YouTube.com/TelegraphTV are websites of The Telegraph, the UK's best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.