Man Guilty of Horrific Stabbing Murder After 18 Months on the Run

A man who fatally stabbed a teenager and then went on the run for 18 months has today (24th July) been found guilty of murder.  

Thomas Dures , 21, was also found guilty of wounding with intent following a three-week trial at Preston Crown Court. He will be sentenced on Monday.   

Our officers attended Railway Road at 12.05am on 29th July 2023 to reports of an ongoing disturbance.  

Nineteen-year-old Matthew was found a short distance away with serious stab injuries. Despite the best efforts of the emergency services, Matthew sadly died later in hospital.  

A Home Office postmortem examination established that the cause of Matthew’s death was a single stab wound to the chest.  

Our enquiries found that Matthew suffered the fatal wound, as well as other injuries, during an altercation involving a number of individuals shortly after midnight on 28th July 2023.  

Prior to the altercation, CCTV footage played to the jury showed Dures and his associate Henry Houghton lurking in an alleyway.  

Dures is then seen striding towards the group Matthew was with, brandishing a lock knife.   

Dures opened up the blade as he charged towards Matthew’s group, closely followed by Houghton, who was swinging a makeshift weapon comprising of a tied-up sock containing a rock.   

Houghton struck Matthew with the weapon, with such force that it caused damage to his brain and likely disorientated him. It was when he was in this confused state that Dures fatally stabbed Matthew (pictured bottom right) to the chest.  

Dures also stabbed two other men during the altercation, before fleeing the scene when hearing the sirens of an approaching police car.  

CCTV footage showed Dures then did a loop of Ormskirk town centre, during which time he discarded his jacket on a park bench in Triangle Park.  

As he continued his route, Dures dumped the knife in a ginnel near Ormskirk Parish Church.  

The jacket was later found by a dog walker and the knife was found by an estate agent. Both items were handed in to the police.  

Dures, of no fixed address but formerly of Whalley Drive, Aughton, sent voice notes to his associates before leaving the area in a taxi.  

He then went on the run for 18 months before handing himself in at a police station in Greece.  

DCI Andy Fallows, from our Force Major Investigation Team, said: “After two long years, the man responsible for fatally stabbing Matthew Daulby has finally been brought to justice. This has been two years of pain and frustration in which the Daulbys have had so many unanswered questions.  

“They have had to figure out a way to try and grieve, knowing the man responsible to taking their sons life before it had really started was actively evading justice, and celebrating his 21st birthday in the sun. Something Matthew will never be able to do.  

“I’d like to thank my investigation team for everything they have done in securing this conviction, the Crown Prosecution Service and our KC, Peter Glenser and junior counsel Katy Appleton. I would also like to thank the public and the media for all the witness appeals they shared, and their help in keeping this case in the spotlight.”