Jury deliberates in trial of Glasgow Sergeant accused of attempted murder

John Norwood from the Scots Guard is on trial accused of attempting to kill a fellow soldier at their barracks.

Published 6th Apr 2016

The jury has been sent home to continue its deliberations in the trial of an Army colour sergeant accused of the attempted murder of a fellow soldier who he is accused of attacking with a machete, almost slicing his arm off.

John Norwood, of the 1st Battalion Scots Guards, is accused of "hunting'' for his victim, Lance Sergeant James Warnock, for several hours at their barracks in Aldershot, Hampshire, before attacking him with a machete, almost slicing his arm off.

The 38-year-old is accused of the attempted murder of L/Sgt Warnock, 24, who suffered a severe wound to his shoulder as well as wounds to his hands and wrist where he tried to defend himself in the incident in the early hours of July 11 last year.

He is also accused of attempting to wound another soldier, former Craftsman Nicholas Wood, whose room he went into by mistake and swung the machete on to the bed he was lying in, "shredding'' the duvet.

The trial at Winchester Crown Court has heard that earlier that evening, Norwood had been involved in an altercation in The George pub in Aldershot which ended with L/Sgt Warnock punching the defendant to the ground.

Giving evidence to the court, Norwood said that the confrontation began because friendly banter about company rivalry had gone too far.

L/Sgt Warnock told the jury that there had not been any such comments and he had felt threatened by the defendant.

Norwood said he had not intended to harm L/Sgt Warnock. He told the court: "I was very foolish and reckless, I was looking for Mr Warnock's room because I was wanting to go and scare him and put the fear of God into him for what he had done to me earlier in the night.''

He added: "I knew I would be the butt of a lot of jokes because I had been beaten by a junior non-commissioned officer (NCO).

"It's unheard of in my line of work for a senior NCO to be beaten up by a junior NCO, I wanted to minimise the jokes by scaring Mr Warnock.''

Norwood, of Priesthill Road, Pollok, Glasgow, denies the attempted murder of L/Sgt Warnock and an alternative charge of wounding with intent as well as the attempted wounding with intent of Mr Wood.