Court of Appeal upholds convictions and 30 year sentence for multiple attempted murders in case prosecuted by Thom Dyke

In June 2023, Mr Bottarelli, who worked as a maintenance worker at Central Middlesex Hospital, carried out a spree of unprovoked and savage attacks against his colleagues, using a mattock (a tool similar to a large pickaxe) and a surgical scalpel.

Mr Bottarelli was convicted in 2024, following a trial which received extensive media coverage.

Following a hearing in March (R v Bottarelli [2026] EWCA Crim 383), the Court of Appeal upheld convictions for attempted murder and a sentence of thirty years’ imprisonment for Matteo Bottarelli.

The Court of Appeal considered the adequacy of the judge’s direction to the jury in relation to voluntary intoxication in the context of an offence of specific intent.

The court found that “…cutting a man’s throat and striking a man at least twice to the head with a mattock are acts which speak for themselves” (Males LJ at paragraph 47), and that Mr Bottarelli had been capable of forming the intent required for attempted murder.

Thom Dyke was instructed by the Crown Prosecution Service and led by Sean Larkin KC at both trial and on appeal.

You can read the judgment here.