24 Years for murderer

A CHAPELTOWN man who stabbed his neighbour and then claimed he had disturbed an intruder has been found guilty of murder and jailed for life with a minimum term of 24 years.

Michael Andrew Goddard, 51, of Steven Close, Chapeltown was convicted of the murder of Glenn Boardman following a nine-day trial at Sheffield Crown Court on Thursday. He was subsequently sentenced on Friday.

In the early hours of Tuesday June 26, Goddard made a 999 call to police saying he had heard his neighbour, 60-yearold Mr Boardman, shouting and sounding distressed.

He went on to tell police he had gone downstairs to Mr Boardman’s first floor flat and found him lying unresponsive on the floor, as T/Detective Chief Inspector Simon Palmer, the Senior Investigating Officer, explains.

In the call to police, Goddard said he had seen an unknown man trying to leave the property via an open window."

He went on to describe what he had been wearing and said that he had tried to grab the man, who he said had been carrying a knife, and had received a slash wound to his hand in the process as the ‘suspect’ escaped."

Officers were immediately deployed to the cul-de-sac where both Goddard and Mr Boardman lived and found Mr Boardman on his bedroom floor, with significant knife injuries to his neck and stab wounds to his back."

Goddard, who was bleeding from his injuries, spoke to officers at the scene and it quickly became apparent that his account had changed and was significantly different to his initial 999 call.”

As detectives and specialist forensic officers carried out detailed enquiries at the scene, a trail of blood was found, leading from Mr Boardman’s flat to the surrounding roads which subsequently followed a circular route before ending back at Steven Close.

T/DCI Palmer continued: “The day after Mr Boardman’s body was discovered, the trail of blood, which was forensically identified as being God-