Avon lady's attacker had record of violence

The man stabbed to death by an Avon lady in her home in Kent was convicted of attacking another woman he knew almost 30 years ago, it was disclosed yesterday.

David Stuchbery, 49, was sentenced to borstal training after being convicted at the Old Bailey, in February 1968, of grievous bodily harm. Stuchbery received psychiatric treatment following his sentence for the attack on the woman he knew at her home in Croydon, south London.

Police yesterday questioned the cosmetic saleswoman who is recovering from knife wounds sustained during a violent struggle with Stuchbery on Tuesday in the village of Densole, near Folkestone. It is thought she was indecently assaulted before she stabbed Stuchbery once in the chest. Jason Bennetto