Psychiatric patient turned killer is locked up

VICTIM . . . Michael Kahan

A 32-YEAR-OLD Chadderton man was sentenced to indefinite detention in a secure hospital for stabbing a gifted violinist to death.

Jonathan Mills, of Dawlish Avenue, Chadderton, pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility at Manchester Crown Court, Crown Square, on Friday.

Mills, a paranoid schizophrenic, is believed to have been discharged from a psychiatric unit 10 days earlier.

His victim, Michael Kahan (39), of Clere Road, Crumpsall, had been on his way to buy breakfast from a local bakery in Crumpsall shortly before 10am on Sunday, June 1, this year when he was stabbed twice.

The father-of-three had been walking along Middleton Road when he crossed the road and walked towards the junction of Edilom Road.

Mills was caught on CCTV cameras driving along Middleton Road in a red Vauxhall Corsa before turning into a driveway of a block of flats opposite Edilom Road.

The footage showed him walk across the road, approach Mr Kahan and block his path.

Without saying a word, Mills produced a large kitchen-style knife from under his jacket and stabbed Mr Kahan in his stomach.

A number of people walking and driving past ran to help him as he collapsed on the floor.
Mills walked back towards his car and drove off quickly the way he came.

Mr Kahan was taken by ambulance to North Manchester General Hospital but staff were not able to save his life and he died from his injuries.

A post-mortem examination revealed he was fatally stabbed once in the abdomen and once in the chest.

Police tracked Mills down and arrested him at his home after the red Corsa was caught on a speed camera. When officers spoke to his parents, they pointed out a knife they had taken from Mills when he had returned to the house earlier that day.

The police recovered a number of items from Mills’s home address, including a coat found in his bedroom that was stained with Mr Kahan’s blood.

Mr Kahan trained at the Royal Northern College of Music and was an expert in a type of Jewish music known as klezmer.

He performed all over the country as part of the Klezmer Gourmets.

Det Supt Jane Antrobus, of Greater Manchester Police’s Major Incident Team, said: “This was a terrible, tragic set of circumstances in which a young man lost his life.”