She just came straight at me.
ROBIN BEREZA, GIVING EVIDENCE AT TRIAL
With the precise whereabouts of Lukasz Slaboszewski and John Chapman still unknown to police, Dennehy, Stretch and the other villains in tow next surfaced in the ‘Oval’ area of Hereford during the afternoon of Tuesday, 2 April 2013. They stopped off in Green Lane, at a shop on a roundabout at Wordsworth Road and Westfaling Street. Here, along with Mark Lloyd, Dennehy bought rolling tobacco and some whisky. Once again her image was captured on CCTV. She was, according to the young woman behind the counter, ‘in high spirits, and in a state of euphoria’.
Earlier that day the circular from colleagues in Cambridgeshire had raised eyebrows amongst the older hands in the CID office at Hereford police station. This ‘focus-led intelligence’ informed them that one Gary Stretch – or ‘Gary Richards’, as the older West Mercia detectives knew him – was linked to a murder investigation in Peterborough. To West Mercia Police, ‘Richards’ from Kington was a known criminal who had often been arrested before he left the area. The intelligence also suggested that Stretch might be ‘making for home’ in the company of Joanne Dennehy, prime suspect in the murder of Kevin Lee.
At about 3.35pm, former fire service employee sixty-three-year-old Robin Bereza was walking – rather than opting for his usual jogging – his Labrador called Samson along Westfaling Street. The previous evening he had celebrated his thirty-sixth wedding anniversary with his wife, Pam. He was in high spirits but then, just as he approached the junction at Holmes Street, a car pulled up behind him. Bereza described what followed to the jury at the joint trial of Dennehy, Stretch and Layton:
I felt a blow to my right shoulder. I did not immediately realise that I was being attacked. I turned around and saw this lady. She just stared straight through me. I kicked her and made contact. It had no impact on her. She just came straight towards me and I thought she was just going to mug me.
I ran into the road. I put my hand to my jacket and saw all this blood and then it triggered and I thought, ‘You just want blood’. She tried to come for me again. I kicked her again, but still she didn’t react. I asked her, ‘What are you doing?’ She said, ‘I’m hurting you. I’m going to fuckin’ kill you.’
Dennehy pursued Bereza down the road, continuing the attack, but she eventually desisted because of the arrival of another car on the scene, waiting to turn into a side road. Gary Stretch had driven the Astra slowly behind Dennehy and he beckoned for her to get back into the Vauxhall. Leaving Robin with a stab to his right shoulder and another to his chest area, a smiling Dennehy casually strolled back to the Vauxhall, and Mark Lloyd saw her kiss Stretch on the cheek, then heard her say, ‘Thanks.’
Although Dennehy had only managed to inflict two stabs to Robin Bereza she caused him potentially fatal injuries. The deep wound to his back penetrated the chest wall, causing a haemopneumothorax as well as bruising to the lung and fracturing a rib. Had the blood and air not been promptly drained from his chest through expert medical treatment, Bereza’s life would have been endangered. The other stab shattered his shoulder blade and fractured the bone in an upper arm. It was only by pure chance that the nerves in the arm were not irreparably damaged with a drastic loss of function.
‘The attack has had a profound effect on Robin Bereza, emotionally and psychologically,’ remarked Mr Justice Spencer at sentencing, 24 February 2014
Mark Lloyd went even further with this graphic account:
Dennehy struck Robin Bereza like in the film Pyscho, thrusting and putting her whole weight behind it. The blade of the knife was as black as the handle with blood. She stank of blood. Afterwards, Gary drove off very, very calmly. It was as if they had just stopped for a McDonald’s.
Mark Lloyd, giving evidence against Dennehy and Stretch at trial
Despite his wounds Robin Bereza staggered home and managed to dial 999. At 3.42pm police took a call from West Midlands ambulance control saying that a man had been repeatedly stabbed in Westfaling Street. Robin was initially taken to Hereford Country Hospital before being airlifted to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Birmingham. Bereza gave a description of his attacker as a woman with a star-like tattoo on her cheek.