A grieving father who attacked a man he blamed for his son’s death has been found guilty of attempted murder.
Samson Price, 48, took a knife to Patrick Brown outside PureGym in Northwich, Cheshire, in September 2021.
Price had placed a tracker in Brown’s car to track his every move several weeks before.
He mistakenly believed that Brown had killed his son, Samson Jnr, 18, who drowned in a lake a year earlier after “taking LSD”.
Police concluded his death was an accident, but his father refused to accept it and resented Brown and two others being released without charge.
Price admitted grievous bodily harm with intent but pleaded not guilty to attempted murder, claiming he did not intend to kill him.
However, a jury found him guilty of the most serious charge at Chester Crown Court on Monday.
Prosecutor Simon Mills previously said: “Patrick Brown’s survival was down to sheer luck and prompt medical attention.”
During the trial, jurors heard how Samson Jnr drowned in a pond near his family home in Wigan, Greater Manchester, in October 2020.
It is believed he went there to take LSD with friends when he wandered away from the others.
But his parents felt the police investigation had “failed” with “many mistakes”.
Text messages between them, before Brown was attacked, showed “the understandable grief and raw emotions of a grieving mother and father,” prosecutors said.
Price told his wife he thought he was dead after his son’s death.
He wrote: “These feelings are harder to deal with. Nothing will bring him back. It is folly, injustice and unfairness.”
His wife wrote: “We would have to row and worry about him going to all these festivals. I cannot understand that he is not here and I will never hear his voice.’
Price carefully made a plan to attack Brown, following him as he left the gym and slashing him with a 16-inch knife between 15 and 20 times.
He only stopped the attack when his victim fell to the floor covered in blood.
Police and paramedics arrived quickly, rushing Brown to Aintree Hospital where he received life-saving treatment.
Price fled in a nearby car and hid for about three weeks before turning himself in.
The dad, of Sefton Road, Wigan, also pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing a knife in a public place.
He has been remanded in custody and will be sentenced on March 23.
Contact our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.