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Man, 43, to be sentenced after pleading guilty to manslaughter of Geoffrey Caton, 57




The killer of a Bury St Edmunds man will be sentenced in October, after a judge set a date this week.

No Caption ABCDE. (3681538)
No Caption ABCDE. (3681538)

Mourad Belarbi, 43, of Lake Avenue, Bury, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Geoffrey Caton, 57, on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Mr Caton's body was found at a property in Cumberland Avenue on July 20, 2017.

He had suffered 65 stab wounds. A pathologist said the wounds were delivered with 'severe force'.

On Monday at Ipswich Crown Court, Judge Martyn Levett was given updates on the preparation of a psychiatric assessment. Judge Levett said Belarbi, who was not in court for the hearing, would be sentenced on October 5.

Following Belarbi's arrest, two psychiatrists had interviewed him and agreed he was suffering from paranoid schizophrenia, made worse by drug use, which helped to explain his actions in killing Mr Caton.

When Belarbi pleaded guilty in January to manslaughter on what was due to be the first day of his trial for murder, the court heard both he and Mr Caton were drug users and had taken amphetamine, cannabis and cocaine together in the weeks before Mr Caton's death.