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Shane Dunn, from Tunbridge Wells, accused of attempted murder of Ian Garrod had 'no recollection' of slashing his throat

12:00, 14 April 2015

updated: 12:30, 14 April 2015

A man accused of slashing the throat of a middle-aged training manager he met on a gay dating website has claimed he had no recollection of what happened after being injected with a drug.

Shane Dunn, 25, said he felt strange after Ian Garrod injected him with Miaow Miaow, the stimulant drug Mephedrone.

The next thing he recalled, he claimed, was waking up at his home several hours later.

Police were called to Deal following reports a person was in possession of a knife. Stock Image.
Police were called to Deal following reports a person was in possession of a knife. Stock Image.

Asked if he caused the injury to 55-year-old Mr Garrod’s neck, he replied: “I can’t answer that.” He agreed it “raised the possibility” it was him.

Dunn, of Victoria Road, Golden Green, Tunbridge Wells, denies attempted murder and an alternative charge of wounding with intent.

A jury at Maidstone Crown Court has already heard Mr Garrod invited Dunn to his home in the Medway area for sex after they met on the website Grindr.

The prosecution say Dunn inflicted the knife wound and then pretended to call for an ambulance.

Mr Garrod who runs training courses for scientists, was left bleeding on the bed. His life was saved when his housemate returned from holiday and found him.

Dunn said in evidence he used the name Gypsy Boy on Grindr. He had a partner he met on the website.

“Basically, when you are horny you get on Grindr and you look for a bit of sex,” he said. “It is just for sex. It is not for friendships. You just meet up for some fun.

"He tied my arm with an elastic thing he had and waited for my vein to come up, and he injected. I immediately felt really strange, like I wanted to be sick and like I don’t know what I was doing..." - Shane Dunn

“You find out what they are into, such as sleazy sex or Gypsy Boy like me.”

Dunn said he and his partner went to Mr Garrod’s home in May last year to “spice up” their sex life.

Mr Garrod, he said, wanted them to try a legal high called Tina and they agreed.

“I think I started to get undressed first,” he said. “I always do. I like to start it off. He said Tina would make us feel a little bit dirty and laid back.

“He offered to slam us. It means inject you. We were not up for that. I think there was a bit of touching.”

His partner and Mr Garrod had sex.

“He wanted us to tie him up,” said Dunn. “He wanted to role play where we were his children. He wanted us to beat him up. He is into really strange things.

“There was porn he had downloaded onto his laptop. We were there about two hours.”

Dunn said he had just started work for a fine foods company in Goudhurst as a night warehouse loader but on September 8 he called and said he could not go because his girlfriend was having a baby.

That evening he went “dogging” at a car park on the A21. He didn’t meet anybody so he drove to Detling but found the dogging area there had been shut down.

He then contacted Mr Garrod on Grindr and arranged to go to his home. “I was after sex,” he admitted.

“He came downstairs totally naked. We went straight upstairs. I got undressed and sat on his bed. We both smoked a bit of Tina.

The case was heard at Maidstone Crown Court
The case was heard at Maidstone Crown Court

“There were two syringes on the bedside cabinet. I believed there was Miaow Miaow in them. I can’t say for sure what it was.

“At some point I had a glass of water and a couple of cigarettes. He tied my arm with an elastic thing he had and waited for my vein to come up, and he injected.

“I immediately felt really strange, like I wanted to be sick and like I don’t know what I was doing. The last thing I remember him saying to me was: “Just sit up straight and don’t panic.

“The next thing I remember is waking up in my be at about 4pm. I don’t remember how I got home.”

Dunn’s car had been recorded on automatic number plate recognition cameras in Sutton Road on the A274 at 6am.

“That would not be the route I would take,” he said.

Mr Garrod told how property was missing from his house, but Dunn said: “There was no property that didn’t belong to me. There was no blood on me.

"I am saying I have no way of knowing what happened that night. It could have been me. I don’t know. I have no reason to believe I attacked Mr Garrod. I am not trying to make Mr Garrod look worse. That is Mr Garrod. He is dirty..." - Shane Dunn

“I found out the police were trying to arrest me for attempted murder.”

Questioned by prosecutor Deborah Charles, Dunn said he went back to Mr Garrod’s home in September because he knew he could get drugs there.

“I was there to have sex and drugs,” he said.

He had some Miaow Miaow in his wallet but he left it in his car.

Dunn agreed Mr Garrod did not have to tie him down before injecting him.

“I accepted it because what I believed to be in the syringe was Miaow Miaow diluted,” he said. He denied they both injected themselves.

Asked how it progressed to “complete memory blank”, Dunn said: “I don’t know. I am out of it.”

He said of the cause of Mr Garrod’s injury: “It could have been me. I don’t personally think it would be me. I am not a violent person.

“I don’t know if I pretended to call an ambulance. I don’t remember anything after being injected. I don’t know how I left the house.

“I didn’t wake up with any blood on me.”

Asked if his evidence was “a series of don’t knows”, he said: “My evidence is the truth.”

Miss Charles told him: “The truth is you cut his throat with a knife you got from the kitchen.”

Dunn continued: “I am saying I have no way of knowing what happened that night. It could have been me. I don’t know. I have no reason to believe I attacked Mr Garrod.

“I am not trying to make Mr Garrod look worse. That is Mr Garrod. He is dirty.”

Dunn added he had no reason for wanting to kill Mr Garrod.

The jury has now retired to consider the verdict.


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