I just wanted him to leave me alone says '˜bullied' Catterick soldier on knife charge

Private James Farrell, 18, said he plunged a knife into the bed of Rifleman Curtis Horbury so hard that it went through the mattress, into the bed frame and sent a shockwave back into his arm.

Rifleman Farrell said he had been bullied by his roommates at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire and that Rifleman Horbury was the “ringleader”.

Commander Douglas Ward, prosecuting, said the knife was aimed at the head and neck region of Rifleman Horbury, who was lying in bed texting, and he had to roll out of the way to avoid the blow.

Rifleman Farrell, who was with the 2nd Infantry Training Battalion at the time, denies attempted murder.

He told Tuesday’s hearing at Colchester Garrison in Essex that he started his training at Catterick Garrison in September 2016 and was bullied “nearly the whole time” he was there.

He said he was verbally abused, physically struck “a few times” and that his roommates would throw rubbish including half-empty Coke cans into his bed space.

On the day of the incident, other trainee soldiers were “ripping into him” for wearing the wrong uniform on Remembrance Sunday and they asked questions about his home background after he said he did not get the grades to become an Army medic, the court heard.

Rifleman Farrell, who appeared before the court in full uniform, said he went outside to calm down on the evening of November 13. He said while he was in the smoking shelter he decided to punch Rifleman Horbury when he went back inside.

“When I went back in my intention was to punch him as I was getting tired of being bullied,” said Rifleman Farrell, who is from Halifax.

He told the court he had his knife in his pocket and when he got back into the dormitory he saw Rifleman Horbury’s face.

“He had his smirk out,” said Rifleman Farrell. “I lost it, pulled out the knife, stabbed it in his bed.”

He said the knife was in his right hand and his left hand was on the bed.

“It was my kind of safety thing,” he said. “It’s like in bayonet training where you stab the dummy.

“It’s so you know nothing else will get hurt.”

He agreed with Vice-Judge Advocate General Michael Hunter that he had used his left hand “like a border”.

Asked what he had been thinking, Rifleman Farrell said: “Just to scare him, get him to leave me alone.”

Asked if he had any intention to hit Rifleman Horbury with the knife, he said: “No”.

He said that afterwards he stepped back and told Rifleman Horbury: “Let that be a warning to you.”

He denied, under questioning from Commander Ward, that the earlier discussions had been “banter”.

Rifleman Farrell said: “No, I was being bullied. I said nothing back to them and, if I did, they would rip into me even more.”

The trial, before a board of five military officers, continues.