Halloween knife killing: Andrew Whitefield, 53, claims he acted in self-defence in killing of Maciej Novak

Published: 14 April 2011
by DAVID ST GEORGE

A WIDOW yesterday (Wednesday) denied that she was so drunk when her new husband was stabbed in a Halloween night attack in Kentish Town that she could not have cared whether he lived or died.

Old Bailey jurors heard that drainage engineer Andrew Whitefield, 53, allegedly confessed to repeatedly knifing Maciej Novak in the back.

Whitefield – known as Woody – who denies murder and claims self-defence, was one of four drinkers gathered at a one-bedroom flat in Forge Place, off Harmood Street, to down cans of lager and quantities of vodka last October 31.

Jobless manual worker Mr Novak – nicknamed Magic – and his wife of two months, Jackie, a chef, were also there, as was the drunken tenant of the flat, Maria Burns.

Whitefield, arrested at his flat in Highbury just hours after Mr Novak, 27, suffered four knife wounds to the back, maintains he acted in lawful and reasonable self-defence when his own life was under threat.

The jury of seven women and five men studied plans and photographs of the attack scene when the case got under way before the Recorder of London, Judge Peter Beaumont.

Prosecutor Philip Bennetts QC told the court that “a significant amount of alcohol” purchased at the local Costcutters was consumed at the flat. It was, he said, a major factor in the outbreak of violence that led to Mr Novak being given open-heart surgery in the street outside the Camden Council flat and being airlifted to hospital where surgeons lost a battle to save him.

Just hours earlier, Mr Novak, a Pole living in Kensal Green, had been released without charge by police following his arrest for making threats to kill after a dispute with his wife.

She later visited the Forge Place flat after work and had her two chef’s knives, wrapped in a tea-towel, inside her rucksack tucked into her spare shoes.

“There is no dispute that this defendant caused the injuries and the death of Mr Novak,” said the prosecutor.

The two men met for the first time that night and Whitefield allegedly told Mrs Novak that he had stabbed her husband in the bedroom, and also phoned a woman friend to confess: “I’ve just left someone dead.”