Boy died as father showed him how to stab someone

A boy of 11 died after he was accidentally stabbed in the heart by his police officer father during a "play-fight", an inquest was told.

Ian Johnson, 40, was preparing swordfish steaks after drinking a bottle of wine when he started to mess about with his son Conor.

Mr Johnson said in a written statement to the inquest at Worthing, West Sussex, that his son had playfully started kicking his legs and pinching his bottom.

He grabbed his son, saying he would demonstrate how gladiators killed people by stabbing them in the neck.

In his statement he said he twisted the boy round and, as he did so, the knife, which had a four-inch blade, entered Conor's chest. "I said, 'Oh my God. Sorry Conor'. The cut was just above his right nipple. It was very small. I said, 'Don't worry.'

Mr Johnson, from Littlehampton, who is divorced from Conor's mother, called the emergency services and his son was taken to Worthing Hospital but died four hours later from the single stab wound to the heart.