Chelmsley Wood man jailed for selling a stolen motorbike before fatal stabbing - The Solihull Observer

Chelmsley Wood man jailed for selling a stolen motorbike before fatal stabbing

Solihull Editorial 21st Oct, 2019   0

A CONVICTED killer from Chelmsley Wood has been back in court for his part in selling a stolen motorbike a month before a fatal stabbing.

Danny Cooper had been given a life sentence in May after being found guilty of the murder of father-of-four Richard Helm by stabbing him through the heart.

The incident took place in a residential street in the Ashmore Park area of Wolverhampton last October.

But a month earlier Cooper of Maytree Close had been involved in trying to sell a stolen £4,500 motorbike, Warwick Crown Court has heard.




The 32-year-old, who had pleaded guilty to handling the KTM165 motorbike by assisting in its sale, was jailed for 12 months.

But that was concurrent to his life sentence, of which he has been told he will have to serve a minimum of 24 years.


Prosecutor Katie Fox said that in September last year a man called Tom Print advertised his KTM motorbike for sale for £4,500 – but before he could arrange a sale, it was stolen from his back garden.

After carrying out searches online, he found his machine being advertised by someone calling themselves Danny-Boy, who turned out to be Cooper, and responded to the advert.

Posing as a potential buyer Mr Print arranged to meet the seller in Redditch and tipped of the police who turned up in his place.

Someone turned up on the motorbike, but made off when he saw the police, and managed to get away after riding dangerously, during which he sped along the wrong side of the A448 dual carriageway in the face of oncoming traffic.

Appearing in court via a video link from HMP Hewell, Cooper, who has said his role was to advertise the bike and that he was not the rider, accepted: “I was the main party responsible for it.”

Asking for him to be sentenced before the trial of two other men who have denied being involved in handling the bike, his barrister Oliver Woolhouse pointed out: “He is serving a life sentence with a minimum term of 24 years for a murder.

“This charge pre-dates the commission of that offence, and had this been before the court at the time he was sentenced for the murder, it would not have increased his sentence,” he submitted.

Mr Woolhouse pointed out that as a remand prisoner awaiting sentence for the handling offence, Cooper was being kept at HMP Hewell – but once he is sentenced, he can be moved to Long Lartin category A prison where he will serve his life sentence.

Judge Peter Cooke said: “It runs from today, so that means you’re free to be moved to Long Lartin where you can settle in to serve the long sentence you must serve.”

Cooper had been convicted of the murder of 37-year-old Mr Helm following a trial at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

During the trial the jury heard that Cooper had become involved in a feud which had had nothing to do with him between an acquaintance of his, Matty Stinson, and Luke Fry, the ex-partner of Mr Helm’s sister Kelsie, over the burglary of his home.

That had led to Kelsie being beaten up in the street – and Mr Helm had gone out looking for Mr Stinson, who he had been led to believe was responsible.

In fact it was Cooper, who had trained as a boxer, who had floored Kelsie after smashing windows at her home.

When Mr Helm and his brother Anthony turned up outside Mr Stinson’s home in Ashmore Park, Wolverhampton, Cooper, who was in the house at the time, armed himself with a large kitchen knife and went out.

And in the violence that followed, during which a petrol bomb was thrown at Anthony Helm’s Range Rover, Cooper stabbed Mr Helm to the chest, with the blade fatally going into his heart.

Online Editions

Catch up on your local news by reading our e-editions on the Solihull Observer.

Announcements

Weddings, Birthdays, Bereavements, Thank you notices, Marriages and more.

Buy Photos

Buy photos online from the Solihull Observer newspaper.

Reader Travel

Check out all of the latest reader travel offers to get your hands on some free gifts.