Graeme Perks assumed an armed intruder who appeared in his bedroom late at night was his son ‘having a mental breakdown’ as he tried to ‘rationalise’ what was happening before he was stabbed, a court heard
A doctor who was allegedly stabbed in his bedroom by a fellow plastic surgeon thought the armed intruder was his son “having a mental breakdown” as he tried to “rationalise” the situation before he was attacked, a court has heard.
Graeme Perks was blinded by the head torch of a man he thought was wearing a balaclava before he was knifed in the abdomen, leaving him in intensive care for several days, jurors were told. Loughborough Courthouse heard that Peter Brooks – a specialist in plastics and burns – attempted to murder Mr Perks while armed with a crowbar, petrol, matches and a knife after cycling to his home near Southwell in Nottinghamshire in the early hours of January 14, 2021. Mr Perks denies the allegations.
Prosecutors say Brooks, 61, “hated” Mr Perks because he was giving evidence in a work disciplinary hearing against him, so doused the ground floor of the property in petrol before stabbing him. Mr Perks, aged 65 at the time of the attack, had only recently retired, the court heard.
In a video interview with police eight days after he was discharged from hospital, Mr Perks said he went to bed on the night of the attack between 10pm and 11.30pm and lived with his wife Beverley and youngest son Henry.
The father-of-four told detectives: “At some unknown time I heard a loud noise, it was sufficient to wake me. It was really unusual. When I heard that bang I thought something seriously wrong was happening in the house. We live in a place that’s really quiet. To hear a noise like that signified something serious was going on.
“It was a loud bang. I thought, ‘somebody’s trying to break in’. I simply leapt out of bed. Didn’t waste time looking at the clock. I am a fairly light sleeper – if I do hear something it will wake me up. I recall jumping out of bed – I sleep naked – and I recall running down the stairs into the drawing room and my recollection was there appeared to be a huge hole in the left hand door of the conservatory.
“I thought I smelt something unusual but wasn’t really with it. I vaguely recall my feet being damp. I saw a figure in the garden wearing dark clothing with their back to me.” Mr Perks thought the figure was his son Henry because he had the same “big, solid” build, and in his confusion thought his son was “having a mental breakdown”.
He said: “I have no reason for him to do that because he has been perfectly normal for 29 years – my brain was trying to rationalise it.” He told detectives he said “what the hell is going on Henry?” to the figure, who turned around, but the victim could not see their face because they had a headlight on and he thought they might be wearing a balaclava.
Mr Perks added: “Nothing was said, and the next thing I remember was feeling a blow to my body. I put my hands to the area where I felt it and it was warm and sticky, and I thought I felt something poking out from my abdomen and I decided that I must have been stabbed, and that I needed to get back to the house.
“I turned back towards the house then I don’t remember anything that happened after that. I was totally confused as to what was going on. Nothing was said. I don’t remember it being painful at all, I just remember it was a blow. My last recollection is just turning back to the house. I have no recollection of where I ended up at all.”
Mr Perks was in intensive care for eight days and in hospital the following three weeks, during which he had “hallucinations” and said “some of it must come from the recollection of the smell of petrol” but also he had been given lots of drugs, the court heard. His son was interviewed by police on the day of the stabbing, which was also played to the jury on Tuesday.
In the recording, he said: “The first thing I remember is waking up to hearing commotion downstairs. I can roughly hear what would have been my mother’s voice. I got out of bed, made my way downstairs and I slipped down the bottom stairs. In front of me were two jerry cans…I have never seen before in my life.
“Once I realised the cans are clearly not ours and there’s been a break-in…I pick up two kitchen knives and I move back into the hallway. The he (Graeme Perks) comes stumbling out and says he’s been stabbed. My mother’s screaming at this point. I put one knife down, pick up the phone and call the ambulance.”
Henry Perks told detectives his father looked “vacant” and had a visible wound before he collapsed. Brooks, who is not attending his trial and chose not to be legally represented, denies two counts of attempted murder, attempted arson with intent to endanger life, and possession of a knife in a public place.
The trial continues.
