Surgeon jailed for life in England over attempted murder of colleague

Euronews

10-06-2025

A plastic surgeon in England has been jailed for life for the attempted murder of a colleague, who he stabbed after trying to set his house on fire.
Jonathan Peter Brooks, 61, broke into Graeme Perks' home in Nottinghamshire in the early hours of 14 January 2021, wearing camouflage gear and carrying a crowbar, cans of petrol, matches and a knife.
Brooks doused the ground floor of the house with petrol, but was interrupted by Perks, 65, before he could set it alight. The surgeon stabbed his recently retired colleague in the abdomen, causing life-threatening injury.
Brooks had been subject to disciplinary issues at work, and it was clear that he held a grudge against Perks for his involvement in the process, according to prosecutors.
He was convicted in April of two counts of attempted murder, one of attempted arson with intent to endanger life and one count of possession of a bladed article. On Monday, Brooks was given a minimum term of 22 years.
"Brooks committed an act of extreme violence, attempting to murder a highly respected colleague," said Samantha Shallow, a deputy chief crown prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service.
"This was a planned, calculated attack, in which Brooks showed he was determined to kill his former colleague," she said in a statement.
Brooks was sentenced over video link from prison because he had refused to leave his cell. His trial was "extremely unusual" because he was not present throughout and was not represented by a legal team, prosecutors said. Brooks' sentencing followed a four-year series of legal hearings, including a mistrial and several other aborted trial dates.
"Justice has now caught up with Brooks," Shallow added. "His victim was fortunate to escape with his life and his whole family were in danger from Brooks' inexplicable actions."
In a victim impact statement read to the court, Perks said the attack was an "unimaginable catastrophe" and that it was "ironic that a burns surgeon should wish to immolate our family".
"This has been a nightmare for my wife and son who must have wondered if I was going to survive. This has been beyond every struggle in our lives so far," Perks said.
Israel's navy said on Tuesday that it attacked docks in Yemen's rebel-held port city of Hodeida, the first time that its naval forces have conducted strikes against the Iran-aligned Houthis.
The Houthis announced the attack via their al-Masirah news channel. They said the attack targeted docks in Hodeida, without elaborating. The facilities there are vital for aid shipments to the hungry, war-stricken nation.
Since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, the Houthis have repeatedly launched missiles and drones targeting Israel, as well as attacks against commercial ships in what the rebels have described as acts of solidarity with the Palestinians.
Late on Monday, Israel issued online warnings to Yemenis to evacuate from Ras Isa, Hodeida and al-Salif ports over the Houthis' alleged use of seaports for attacks.
"The port is used to transfer weapons and is a further example of the Houthi terrorist regime's cynical exploitation of civilian infrastructure in order to advance terrorist activities," the Israeli military said in a statement Tuesday.
Hodeida is also the main entry point for food and other humanitarian aid for millions of Yemenis since the war began when the Houthis seized Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in 2014.
Writing on X on Tuesday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz threatened the Houthis with a naval and air blockade if attacks on Israel continue.
"We warned the Houthi terror organization that if they continue to fire at Israel they will face a powerful response and enter a naval and air blockade," he wrote.
The majority of the missiles and drones that the Houthis have fired towards Israel have either not hit their targets or been intercepted. Israeli forces have carried several airstrikes in retaliation, including attacks on Saana International Airport.
Between November 2023 and January 2025, the Houthis targeted more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two of them and killing four sailors. That has greatly reduced the flow of trade through the Red Sea corridor, which typically sees $1 trillion (€876 billion) of goods move through it annually.
The Houthis paused attacks in a self-imposed ceasefire until the US launched a broad assault against the rebels in mid-March.
However, just before US President Donald Trump began his Middle East trip in mid-May, he paused the attacks, saying the rebels had "capitulated" to Washington's demands.
Earlier on Tuesday, US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth wrote on X that US Navy ships used passed through the Red Sea and its Bab el-Mandeb Strait "multiple times in recent days" without facing Houthi attacks.
It's unclear how the Houthis will respond now that an attack from Israeli has come from the sea, rather than the air.
Meanwhile, the wider decade-long war in Yemen between the Houthis and the country's exiled government — backed by a Saudi-led coalition — remains in a stalemate.