Man jailed for 30 years for attempted murder in Pinewood

A 24-year-old man from Ipswich has been jailed for attempted murder following an incident in Pinewood last year.

Elliott Mallett, of Hawthorn Drive, appeared at Ipswich Crown Court today, Monday 8 December, where he was sentenced to 30 years’ imprisonment with an additional licence period of five years. He must serve at least 20 years of his prison sentence before he is eligible for parole.

Mallett was found guilty on Tuesday 23 September - following a trial lasting just over three weeks - of attempted murder and also aggravated burglary with intent to steal.

The attack occurred on Saturday 7 December, when officers were called to Admiral Road at just before 4.55pm, to reports of a burglary during which a woman sustained stab wounds.

The victim – a woman aged in her 40s - reported that she was upstairs at her home address when she heard a noise downstairs and went to investigate, at which point she encountered Mallett on the stairs. He was not previously known to her.

The victim described seeing Mallett pull a knife from the side of his body and he then lunged forward, stabbing her eight times in the neck, face, hands, shoulder and leg. The victim managed to fight back and thinks she ultimately got him off her by kicking out and causing him to stumble down the stairs, where he fell into a piece of furniture.

The victim then managed to run out of her house and seek help from a neighbour and she saw Mallett run away in the direction of Ellenbrook Park. Emergency services were called and the victim was taken to hospital where she was treated for her injuries and subsequently discharged later that night.

A short time after the attack, police officers conducting searches in Ellenbrook Park were approached by a man who claimed he had just been the victim of an attempted knifepoint robbery. He said he was thrown to the floor and the attacker tried to stab him and that he in turn had tried to grab the knife. The officers asked this man for his name and he said it was ‘Elliott Mallett’.

He was wearing a grey zip-up jacket and dark-coloured trousers and said he had lost his coat during the incident. An officer walked with him and they found his coat – a black puffer jacket - and he was then taken home.

When they arrived at his house they were met by two other officers who – treating him at this stage as a potential victim – seized his grey zip-up jacket and took swabs of his hands. Mallett began to visibly shake during this process.

Whilst this was taking place, officers continuing to search the park located a bottle of Olay moisturiser and a pair of Apple earphones, both of which matched the description of items the victim had said were missing from her gym bag.

Back at Mallett’s home address officers began to obtain his statement for being a victim of the alleged robbery. Discrepancies began to appear between the account he was giving to the officers for the statement and the information he had provided to the officers in the park.

The officers taking the statement raised their concerns over these discrepancies and these were communicated to the senior investigating officer, who made the decision that Mallett should be treated as a suspect as he appeared to be falsifying his evidence.

In the early hours of the following morning, Sunday 8 December, officers re-attended Mallett’s home and arrested him. Officers were then able to seize his phone and search his house.

Doorbell camera footage from his front door showed that he had left the house at 3.45pm on the Saturday afternoon wearing all black clothing, including a black puffer jacket and his hood up partially covering his face. This matched the description of the suspect provided by the victim.

Later on the Sunday morning a member of the public informed officers in the area that they had found a knife in Swallowtail Close, which was approximately a four-minute walk from the victim’s house.

The knife was engraved with ‘Maggi Soups’ and research into this brand found them to be rare and vintage. A pin badge was found next to the knife, which matched the description of one the victim said was missing from her gym bag.

Officers searching Mallett’s home found a knife in a kitchen drawer also engraved with ‘Maggi Soups’. Further evidence included a footwear mark was found at the victim’s home which matched the trainers Mallett had been wearing.

Analysis of Mallett’s phone found that at 6.19pm on the day of the attack, he had messaged a friend saying that ‘something had happened’ and that he ‘had almost got stabbed and some woman got stabbed as well and put in hospital’.

None of the officers Mallett had spoken to had explained the nature of the victim’s injuries to him and no information had been released to the media at this stage, therefore Mallett displayed prior knowledge of the attack that further deepened suspicions that he was the person responsible for it.

The analysis of Mallett’s phone also pinpointed its location as being in the victim’s house at 4.48pm, just minutes before the 999 call was made. He told the court that the man who he had alleged robbed him, must have taken the phone to the victim’s house and he then found it later in the park.

Elliott Mallett was subsequently charged with attempted murder on Monday 9 December and made his first court appearance the following day.

Mallett had pleaded not guilty to the offences, but the jury found him guilty of both counts by unanimous decisions.

In her Victim Personal Statement, the victim said that ‘the day I was attacked in my own home shattered everything I knew about safety, trust and stability’. She went on to describe how her life has been ‘consumed by trauma’, that she suffers with flashbacks, feels constantly on edge and has ‘withdrawn from people she loves’.

Detective Chief Inspector Matt Adams, the Senior Investigating Officer, said: “It is exceptionally rare for someone to be physically attacked in their own home by a stranger, especially with the level of violence used by Elliott Mallett.

“Having armed himself with a large kitchen knife Mallett entered this house as a trespasser. He clearly intended on stealing from within the property but when confronted by the victim he made a conscious decision to go up the stairs towards her and he then embarked on a ferocious and senseless attack of violence, stabbing her multiple times.

“Mallett could have easily fled the address without confronting the victim but chose to attack her instead. I dread to think how this would have ended have had it not been for the strength and courage of the victim who bravely fought back against her armed attacker.

“He has shown no remorse for his actions and his deliberate attempts to mislead police and the court through his far-fetched alternative version of events failed miserably. He will now have many years in prison to consider his actions on that day and the lasting impact they have had on the victim.”

Commenting after Mallett’s conviction in September, Detective Constable Alice Gaffer, the officer in the case, said: “Elliott Mallett subjected the victim to a terrifying ordeal in her own home – the one place everyone should have the right to feel safe and secure.

“The victim demonstrated incredible bravery in fighting him off and then managing to escape to a neighbour’s house to raise the alarm. It is a miracle her physical injuries were not more serious given the size of the knife she was attacked with.

“I know this incident has had a huge impact on the victim’s life and caused her great emotional cost. It has affected her sense of security, her confidence and her ability to get back to life as normal. It ultimately forced her to move away from the area so she could feel safe again.”

DC Gaffer added: “I would like pay tribute to the victim for her bravery, not only on the day of the attack, but also throughout this legal process and for working with us to secure Mallett’s conviction and the sentence today.  

“I would also like to extend my gratitude to all the witnesses and professional experts who supported the investigation, whose evidence was invaluable to the prosecution case.”

Please note in the event of an emergency you should always call 999.

Bodyworn video footage of Mallett’s encounter with police in the park following the attack can be viewed on our YouTube page here: Elliott Mallett jailed for attempted murder and aggravated burglary in Ipswich 

A custody image of Mallett can be found here - Pinewood – Man jailed for 30 years for attempted murder | Suffolk Constabulary