Man guilty of unprovoked stranger murder in Norwich

A man has been convicted of murdering a complete stranger in a "brutal.. and entirely unprovoked" attack.

David Hastings, 48, of Long Row, Norwich, was stabbed 13 times from behind while walking away from the city's Rose Lane car park on 23 June.

At Norwich Crown Court, Rolands Heinbergs, 23, of no fixed address, was found guilty of murdering Mr Hastings in what the prosecutor described as an "unrelenting attack".

He will be sentenced on Tuesday.

Mr Hastings was walking with his friend Karen Althoff at about midnight before making a stop at the public toilets on Rose Lane.

As they walked away from the toilets, the father-of-two was stabbed fatally in his back, chest, neck, heart, lung, liver and pancreas.

"He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," said Wayne Cleaver, prosecuting.

Mr Cleaver said Heinbergs, originally from Latvia, was arrested at about 03:45 BST and "the dead man's blood was found on the defendant's hand".

The court was told when police examined Heinbergs' mobile phone they found the message: "I killed. If caught will have to go to prison."