AUDIO - BICKLEY: David Kilcullen guilty of Gerry Edwards murder (From News Shopper)

AUDIO - BICKLEY: David Kilcullen guilty of Gerry Edwards murder

11:58am Tuesday 15th December 2009 in Gerry Edwards By Scott Mullins

THE survivor of a horrific knife attack during which his partner was killed says the memories of the night he was left on the brink of death will stay with him forever.

Frail Chris Bevan had been at the Old Bailey watching as alcoholic David Kilcullen was tried for murder and attempted murder.

And today the 57-year-old heard the news he was waiting for when a jury returned a guilty verdict on both charges.

Jobless Kilcullen (above) visited the home of Gerry Edwards with a knife in March 3 hoping to steal the 59-year-old’s car but he did not count on Mr Edwards’s partner, Mr Bevan, being in their flat in Page Heath Villas, Bickley.

Hearing his partner’s screams, Mr Bevan rushed to the kitchen to find 46-year-old Kilcullen with a sock on his hand, brandishing a serrated kitchen knife.

During police interviews Mr Bevan described how he and his partner laid quietly on the kitchen floor as directed by 14st Kilcullen, before the unemployed scaffolder crouched down and knifed them repeatedly.

A post-mortem examination on Mr Edwards revealed he had four stab wounds to his chest, with the fatal blow slicing through the former trade unionist’s breast bone and sinking into his heart.

A doctor giving evidence during the two-week trial said Mr Edwards, who was dying of AIDS, would have collapsed and died within seconds.

In an effort to flee Kilcullen and suffering from stab wounds himself, Mr Bevan left a trail of blood as he staggered from the kitchen into the lounge before collapsing into an armchair.

Kilcullen followed and began to beat him around the head with several glass bottles.

By then the knife blade had bent and was useless.

Kilcullen is due to be sentenced tomorrow (December 16).

Speaking outside court, Mr Bevan said: “I hope this man will never get the chance to do this again to anybody.

“He needs to be taken off the streets and locked up.

“My memories of that night will never be forgotten, they will be with me forever.

“I just have to concentrate on the good times with Gerry.”

He added: “I’m serving a prison sentence myself every day. I feel like I am incarcerated.”

The murder weapon matched another knife found in Kilcullen’s bedsit in The Avenue, Bickley, and both were part of the same set.

Claims by Kilcullen he was sexually assaulted by the pair and acted in self-defence were dismissed by the jury.

The prosecution said Kilcullen had visited the flat with the knife to steal a car but Kilcullen said he wanted to blackmail the couple over the alleged sexual assault.

Nothing was ever stolen from the flat.

Paramedics arriving at the scene found Mr Bevan’s lungs were both punctured and the jagged remains of the broken bottles had been pushed into his neck.

His spleen has since been removed and part of his ear is missing.

It was recognised in court that Mr Bevan would not have survived if it was not for the skill of the paramedics, who were forced to open his chest at the scene and massage his heart.

Mr Bevan said: “It was as if I had come back from the dead.

“I think about how infinitely more awful it would have been if Gerry had been alone with no-one to comfort him.

“There was nothing I could have done against that man.”

Kilcullen was arrested at his home on March 4, after he called the police and named himself as the attacker.

Investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Cliff Lyons said: "I know the pain Chris feels was further compounded by the ridiculous version of events he heard from the defence case and David Kilcullen at the trial.

"If Chris had not escaped from the flat to raise the alarm, or if the medics had not brought him back to life on the way to the hospital, it is likely we would be looking at a double murder case.

"Kilcullen did not intend either man to survive and identify him as their attacker.

"He has never displayed any remorse for what he did.

"By cheating death in this way and by overcoming his physical problems to give evidence at court, Chris Bevan has seen Kilcullen brought to justice.

"Sadly the injuries caused to Chris that day are life changing and will serve along with the other mental scars to remind him forever of Kilcullen's monstrous actions."

Listen to Kilcullen confess the murder in a phone call made to police: