Dying father who rang 999 after being stabbed was put on hold

A stab victim died after he frantically dialled 999 and was put on hold, a court has heard.

Father of two Paul Millea, 36, was stabbed in the chest in Liverpool, but was played a pre-recorded message when he called the emergency services because of a high volume of calls.

Despite being injured less than a minute's walk from hospital, paramedics only arrived 40 minutes later. Millea died in the hospital within two hours.

Philip Daniels, 26, of Corner Brook, West Derby, is now standing trial for his murder.

Prosecutors told Liverpool Crown Court the defendant attacked Millea on the evening of 17 June because he thought he was having an affair with his pregnant girlfriend.

Daniels admits stabbing the alleged victim but says he used a pair of scissors and acted in self-defence, the Liverpool Echo reported.

Nigel Power QC, prosecuting, told the court that after the attack, at 11.10pm, Millea had called 999 and told the operator: "I've been stabbed in the chest ... I'm going to die."

He told the call handler that he had been "stabbed for nothing" outside Daniels' girlfriend's home in Shrewsbury Road, Garston – a stone's throw away from South Liverpool NHS Treatment Centre.

Millea kept on repeating, "I'm going to die" to the operator, the court heard.

Power said: "The operator says 'hold the line' and then Mr Millea says 'he stabbed me like a nutter, I'm dying'.

"We only hear sadly a recorded voice saying that the call was in a queue because there were a high number of calls.

"Mr Millea obviously knew that he was dying because he said 'I'm dying, I'm going to die, can't I stay here? I'm dying'."

The court heard how neighbours and passers-by helped Millea, with one of them taking over the call to the emergency services.

Paramedics and police arrived at the scene 40 minutes later. Millea died after a blade punctured his right lung, entering the heart sac and penetrating a major vein draining into the heart.

Daniels was said by the prosecution to have been "visibly distressed" when he arrived at his mother's house in Stockbridge Village after the incident at 1.30am.

Power said: "He was shaking, crying and repeatedly saying that he was sorry.

"He said that he thought Kayleigh [Daniels' girlfriend] was having an affair with someone and that when that man knocked on the door he stabbed him.

"He asked her to wash his clothes, but his mother wisely declined."

Daniels was later arrested at his mother's home.

Daniels' sister, Kimberley, has already pleaded guilty to the offence of assisting an offender, the court heard.

Daniels denies murder and manslaughter. The trial continues.