Dnver's attacker loses appeal
Page 8
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
• A man who stabbed an innocent lorry driver at a Milton Keynes inquest has lost his appeal against a prison sentence of two years 11 months.
Rengaraju Salvarajan of Browning Road was jailed by Aylesbury Crown Court in March after being convicted of wounding lorry driver Andrew Rathbone with intent to cause grevious bodily harm.
Mr Justice Leggatt said in the criminal appeal court in London that the attack occurred at last November's inquest into the deaths of Salvarajan's three brothers-in-law on the MI. in Buckinghamshire the previous September.
They were killed when Rathbone's lorry collided with their two cars — one being towed by the other — in the nearside lane in the early hours. "It seems the cars were stationary and it has been conjectured the towing car had run out of petrol," said Leggatt. "The men were killed in the collision and ensuing fire."
He said that Salvarajan attacked Rathbone after the latter had given evidence at the inquest: "He leapt upon him, plunging a fearsome bowie knife up to the hilt into his chest. It went through his diaphragm into the abdomen and touched the liver. As Salvarajam was taken from the room he screamed: 'Let me finish the job. I want to kill him. He murdered my brothers.'"