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Emma Carter with Christopher Winship |
Stab victim’s children ‘saw him die’
Inquest opens into knife death of father struck down in the street
THE girlfriend of a personal trainer who was fatally stabbed last week has told how his children watched as he lay dying in the street.
Christopher Winship, 36, died in hospital from a single stab wound after collapsing in Havelock Street, off Caledonian Road, last Friday afternoon.
Mr Winship had two children and was stepfather to his girlfriend Emma Carter’s daughter Katie.
Ms Carter, 30, told the Tribune: “I was with him, with Katie and his little boy as well. The children saw him lying in the road. He got out of the car, he’d only been gone about 10 seconds and the children were saying ‘Mummy there’s someone lying in the road’.
“I got out of the car and he was lying face down on his side. I thought he’d been knocked down. I was screaming to him to wake up.
“He was trying to open his eyes. I had my little girl in my arms. I was trying to rub him to keep him warm because he was so cold. I knew he was going to die.”
Ms Carter said some kind neighbours took the children inside as paramedics tended to her partner. She added: “Before this happened I thought the world wasn’t as bad as it was portrayed in the papers. I didn’t think you’d go out on a Friday and come home in a police car without your partner.
Mr Winship lived in East Finchley with Ms Carter and his stepdaughter. The day before he died, he had been in meetings to start up his own personal training businesss, something he had delayed after his father died earlier this year.
Ms Carter said: “He played a big part in Katie’s life. He was a great dad. We made sure we went out as a family. It’s going to be difficult keeping that routine.”
Ms Carter added: “We were going to work down here [in London] for a few years and then move up to Leeds where he’s from. We were planning to get married in the Maldives.
“All he ever wanted was a home life. It feels like life’s going on around me and I’m standing still.”
The quiet neighbourhood of Havelock Street was left in shock by Mr Winship’s death. On Saturday, a team of detectives conducted a fingertip search of the area, using extending mirrors to search for vital evidence in secluded spots.
According to initial reports, Mr Winship was stabbed in Bingfield Park but only managed to get as far as Havelock Street before collapsing.
Ms Carter, who left a picture of the couple at the scene, wrote: “We shared the best times in both our lives and neither of us had ever been happier, it’s so unfair.”
Coroner Dr Andrew Reid told the opening of Mr Winship’s inquest at St Pancras Coroner’s Court on Monday: “There was evidence of violence from a third party. An autopsy from Dr Jane Hunt found haemorrhaging due to a stab wound to the chest, which had penetrated the aorta leading to the heart.”
• Eddie Reid, 34, of West Green Road, Tottenham, appeared at Highbury Corner Magistrates Court on Tuesday charged with murder. He was remanded in custody and will appear at the Old Bailey on March 16 for a plea and case management hearing. |
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