British tourist on trial in Tenerife for 'attacking couple with meat cleaver'

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Tenerife Island, San Andres, View of Las Teresitas Beach and city
Tenerife Island, San Andres, View of Las Teresitas Beach and city



A 64-year-old British pensioner from Dorset has been held on tourist island Tenerife for nearly three years after allegedly attacking a couple with a meat cleaver in a hotel bar.

Martin Leonard has gone on trial for the attempted murder of British expats Andrew and Wendy Stewart at the Next Door Bar in the Malibu Park hotel in Playa de las Americas in January 2012.

According to the Bournemouth Echo, Leonard denies the charges but has admitted causing bodily harm to the couple.

Witnesses described the regular winter visitor brandishing a seven-inch kitchen knife during an argument with the pair.

He was asked to leave the bar but allegedly returned with the kitchen knife and a 13-inch meat cleaver, slashing Mr Stewart in the head and left shoulder.

The Daily Mail reports that Mrs Stewart was also knifed, leaving her left ear hanging by a piece of skin and needing 21 stitches.

A third person was also slashed when she tried to protect Mrs Stewart.

A court heard how Leonard was restrained by a tourist who was on holiday at the time.

Lynn Gilliard, who stepped in to help her friend Mrs Stewart, told the court: "I don't think he was using the knives to intimidate. For me, he wanted to kill."

Leonard faces up to 22 years in jail if convicted of attempted murder and causing serious bodily harm.

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