Neighbourly disagreements are nothing new, but in August 2017 an ongoing parking dispute turned deadly.
Darryn Madigan, 38, and John Martin, 41, lived next door to each other in Kingsbury, London.
For six weeks, they had argued over a parking spot and tensions were high.
It culminated in an altercation after John asked Darryn’s partner to move a car so he could take out his rubbish bins.
In the early hours of the following morning, John arrived home after a night out and stood in Darryn’s front yard yelling threats.
Neighbours report hearing him shout, ‘Come down, I’ll beat you around Kingsbury!’
After a verbal exchange through the window, a shirtless Darryn, holding a carving knife, stormed down the stairs. A fight broke out and Darryn says John head-butted him.
‘I remember falling into the bushes. I was stunned by his head hitting me,’ Darryn told police.
‘I realised during the struggle that the knife had gone into him.’
In fact, John had been stabbed in the chest twice with such force the blade pierced through his ribcage and entered his heart. He was dead before the paramedics arrived.
Darryn denied murder but pleaded guilty to manslaughter, claiming he was afraid of John and the threats he’d been making. A jury disagreed and convicted him of murder.
Darryn was sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum 16-year non-parole period.
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