A MOURNER has been jailed for stabbing his partner’s two brothers during a family meeting to plan their father’s funeral.

Former undertaker Kevin Simmons took a hunting knife to the Sunday morning gathering and used it to stab the two victims when an argument broke out between the three grieving siblings.

He went to the aid of his partner Zara Hooper and followed her two brothers Mark and Jason outside the house in Torquay where he stabbed them in the street.

Mark Hooper suffered two wounds to his neck, one of which came within millimetres of his spine, and one to his chest while he stabbed Jason in the stomach once and aimed a second blow which missed.

The three siblings had not met for several years but were brought together by the death of their father and met at his widow’s home in Tamar Avenue, Torquay, in October last year.

There was an argument which led to Mark walking out and Jason and Zara following him to try to stop him leaving. Simmons, who had been helping make lunch in the kitchen, rushed outside and stabbed Mark.

Jason remonstrated with him and Simmons responded by stabbing him as well with the three and a half inch hunting knife.

Simmons, aged 61, of Westhill Avenue, Torquay, denied but was convicted of two counts of wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and was jailed for seven years by Recorder Mr Mathew Turner at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him: ‘This was a serious incident but it only lasted a short period of time. You are genuinely remorseful for your extraordinary actions.’

During a week-long trial in August, the two brothers told the jury there had been a history of ill feeling between Jason and his sister Zara.

Old family arguments resurfaced during a meeting to discuss their father’s funeral on October 21.

Mr Richard Crabb, defending, said the death of the three siblings’ father created an emotional atmosphere which led Simmons to act out of character.

He said: ‘He became disinhibited by his emotional state. The whole incident was timed at less than a minute. It happened very quickly.’