Help! Someone attempted to knife-attack ex-husb

[GreatWorrier]

Name changed.
Briefly: ex-husb and I are divorced and he moved out of our flat to live in a neighbouring borough in a rented house, with someone (a young man) he was sort of friendly with, purely for financial reasons, so that rent would be divided and the house would be cheaper....
The problem with that housemate: he is a very much of a disturbed young man, with past history of abuse in the hands of his own uncle, which psychologically screwed him up, especially as his own family wanted to sweep the abuse under the carpet after he told them... Therefore that young man is very bitter & he drinks far, far, far too much and loses himself. At first EX-H did not know about these details but later on found out.

This housemate was self employed with a domestic plumbing business which was about to go bankrupt due to the housemate's obvious mental health and alcohol abuse problems. Ex-h took it over and trying to make it a steady business. Without ex-husb's intervention, the business would definitely collapse.

Housemate's mental health declined, so much so that even he himself, wanted to be sectioned so that he would be looked after by someone else. Ex-h took him to A&E several months ago, after some mental crisis but hospital discharged the housemate free after one week without sectioning him, as they claimed it was an alcohol dependency problem and was up to the patient to seek care elsewhere. So housemate back in the house that ex-husb lives. Housemate is not wanted by his own family, thay are disturbed by his excessive drinking etc. Apparently his liver is damaged too much and if he goes on like this a bit more, he'll die of alchol related problems, etc.

His family like my ex-husb cos he has been a steady mate to the housemate when he was down down down. In a way the family washed their hands off the housemate and they were grateful that someone gullible, like my ex-hus, took his time to befriend him etc. So it was care in the community ( care by ex-husb).

As far as I understand, he is a liability to everyone and ex-h now paying for his share of the rent too, cos housemate is unable to do anything apart from drinking all day and anger attacks.

On the weekend, housemate apparently attempted to attack ex-husb with a knife, chasing him in the street. Some other people helped the situ to calm down and took the knife from the housemate etc. In the end Ex-Husb reported him to the police and housemate was arrested on Saturday & put in the cell. Today there is a court appearence but at the moment I don't know what is happening.

I am worried about ex-husb's safety, as this man is damaged and capable of anything, he has nothing to lose and nothing to live for. Ex-Husb was only trying to help him initially and this is how he got involved. eX-husb is now moving out of that house to another area but still, he runs that plumbing business so if housmate wants to find him, he can do so through the business that once was his!

Question: That housemate knows where myself and out little child live. So what if he decides to take revenge on ex-hsb by coming to us or trying to find him in our address ?

Where do I stand legally? I don't know that housemate from Adam and if I see him in the street, I would not know it. I only know him as a name from bits of info from crisis to crisis.

Apart from going to a solicitor, can anyone offer any legal advice or any other advice?

Many thanks.

[ILoveItWhenYouCallMeBoo]

all you can do is keep your home scurity up to scratch. the man hasn't threatened you so you have no legal standpoint on this.

[penelopestitsdropped]

if he realy does want to be sectioned then this will help him. he has no reason to want revenge.

to be sectioned you need to be a risk to yourself or others.

he has clearly proven a risk to others so hopefully he will be detained under the mental health act.

[GreatWorrier]

Thank you ILoveItWhenYouCallMeBoo. I was thinking in the lines of anti harassment or restrainign order etc. No idea if they apply to us or not but I want ex-husb to be safe too so maybe he can apply for these.
Ex-husbn comes to our flat regularly to take our child to a regular weekend school so in a way I want to keep all of us safe including ex-husb too.
You keep hearing about knife attacks all over London and it is very much of a real problem for us now.

[GreatWorrier]

Thanks penelopestitsdropped too.

[penelopestitsdropped]

ok well your Exh could apply for a residency and non molestation order. this would mean that the housemate could not return to the property and that he could not harrass or entice others to harrass your exh.

you would not be granted one as there is no suggestion that you or your property are unsafe from this man.

[Resolution]

I agree with boo. You can only get a restraining order where he has made a threat against you. Otherwise leave it to your ex to sort out, though perhaps be careful about your child seeing him at his place until this blows over.

[Resolution]

penelopeTD - residence order? Don't you mean occupation order?

He can't apply for an occupation order as he doesn't come within the definition of an associated person.

[penelopestitsdropped]

oops sorry yes, occupation order. (sorry am discussing residency offboard)

Im not entirely sure how it would work given that they do not co habbit as such.

As i said in my original response, i think that if he genuinly wanted to be sectioned he has been done a huge favour so i can't see why he will be a danger.

HAs your Exh heard from the housemate OP? has he suggested that he is angry about all this?

[GreatWorrier]

Thank you all for the replies.
My Ex-husb never takes our child to his house cos it was where this disturbed man lived and ex-husb did not want our child to see him. So we are okay in that sense.

And ex-husb is now changing his home address too, which is good.

My worry is that ( - since I don't know this man at all, it makes me worry about the unknown - ) what if he tries to find ex-husb and therefore goes to the places ex-husb goes with our child: ie the child's weekend school which was very local to the house they lived... Things like that.

I suppose I need to wait to hear what happened at the courts today and if he is not to be freed for quite some time... Then I can relax a bit.

Thank you all.

[GreatWorrier]

Resolution and penelopestitsdropped thanks again.

"
penelopestitsdropped Mon 24-Jan-11 13:23:13
............. HAs your Exh heard from the housemate OP? has he suggested that he is angry about all this?
"


My Ex-husb is not a great verbal man, he is not a great communicator so I'll perhaps find out later on if housemate was angry with him on anything specific. In fact I asked this question to Ex-husb as I thought housemate might be jelaous that his declining business is now getting steady in someone-else's hands and therefore he might have felt angry at ex-husb... but ex-hus says housemate is angry and illogical about anything and everything.

There may be some sour grapes story there, still not sure.
I do not always trust ex-husb's judgement as he can be really gullible himself and mis-jugde things and as they say put his foot in his mouth ( ??? )so maybe he had been rubbing housemate in the wrong way to make him angry, to cause him wanting to chase ex-husb the street with a knife. Then again, it may be purely because housemate is not well and therefore would attack him regadless of anything... I do not know.

[GreatWorrier]

Update: The Court hearing was yesterday, not Monday as we were previously told. I thought ex-husb was going to give his version but for some reason ( which I am do not know why) he did not go to the court hearing. Perhaps he was not aware or perhaps he didn't just go.

Anyway, yesterday the housemate was released - to reappear in court in March. So basically he is free to do whatever he wants now, until March.
I thought that him chasing someone in the street with a knife, was visual enough evidence.
Ex-husb still ive in the same house that they shared, since he could not find any other house / flat as yet. He liaised with housemate's dad to put all housemate's belongings in a van and left the van near housemate's parents' house, apparently family still dont want him and therefore housemate will sleep in the van.

So what happens now?
I am still as worried as before, even more now, because the man is free.
I don't think he'll be charged with anything.

[Resolution]

Your name is most apt. Just leave the worrying to your ex. Surely you have enough to do bringing up your children.

[GreatWorrier]

Thanks for the reply Resolution.

[scurryfunge]

You need to ask exH whether he pleaded guilty and the next court appearance is for sentencing (could be preparing reports, though that only usually takes 2 weeks).

It could be he has pleaded not guilty and there is to be a trial. Your exH would never have attended the first hearing anyway.
He has been charged, that is why it went to court.
I would be very surprised if the court did not attach any conditions on this young man. Your exH needs to either phone the court or the police officer in the case to find out what is happening. The police likewise should update your exH.

[GreatWorrier]

scurryfunge, thank you...
I shall find out the details. Since I do not know the procedures, it makes me feel uneasy. If I know what is likely to happen and why etc & the likely outcomes, then all these will be more structured in my mind and therefore will be more manageable.

Appreciate the help given me in this board so far... Thanks...