|
“We don’t believe in Christmas”
It was Christmas
Day, 1978, at a house in Ashburnham Road, Luton. The house
was divided up into several flats, one of which was rented
by Peter Rollings. Another was rented by a man named John
Blair. A third flat was rented by Blair’s brother, and this
is where this tale takes place.
On Christmas we all have a bit of a get together with
people, it’s just one of those things that no matter how
hard you try to avoid it, it happens. And invariable we end
up drinking, it’s only natural. Sometimes we may even say,
“Merry Christmas” to each other, even I’ve done that. But
sometimes people have too much to drink.
This was the case with Peter Rolling. He was at John Blair’s
Brother’s flat drinking with his girlfriend, John Blair,
Blair’s brother, and his girlfriend. Sometime during the
night Rolling decided to call it a night. He and his
girlfriend bid farewells and went back to their own flat.
The Blair brothers said goodnight and that was the end of
it. Everything was cool. For now.
The trouble started later in the night when Rollings went
outside into the shared hallway, where he was seen by John
Blair. Blair called out, in a moment of happiness, “Merry
Christmas, Peter.” There was no malice, no mocking, just a
good natured comment, at least that’s how Blair saw it.
Rolling obviously saw it differently, he jumped at Blair at
punch him in the face. he then pulled out a sheath knife and
stabbed the well-wisher thirteen times. So much for the
Christmas spirit.
The police were called and they took Rolling into custody
while Blair was rushed to hospital. Not long after he was
pronounced dead. When informed of this Rolling said, “I knew
he was dead. My sixth sense told me.”
Now would probably be a good time to fill you in on Peter
Rollings religious beliefs. He and his girlfriend were
pagans. They believed in god, but found Christ unappealing,
so they didn’t celebrate Christmas or Easter. So Christmas
day was no different from most others, and Rollings didn’t
like people thinking otherwise.
When John Blair said “Merry Christmas,” Peter took it as a
massive insult to his personal beliefs, and took action
accordingly. Apparently the jury found something in this as
a form of defence because they found the ‘pagan who dabbled
in witchcraft’ guilty of manslaughter instead of murder. He
was sentenced to only five years.
|
