Man shaves his best friend’s eyebrow off – before stabbing him twice in the heart

A prankster who shaved off his best friend’s eyebrows only to stab him to death after a fight broke out has been found guilty of murder.

David Eaton, 37, had spent the day drinking at 36-year-old Matthew Higgins’ home in Rudheath, Cheshire, when he fell asleep on the sofa.

But David woke on September 28, 2024, to find his left brow had been shaved off, a ‘joke’ that Higgins blamed on a friend.

They began to tussle, with Higgins grabbing a knife from a kitchen block and stabbing the father of one twice in the heart.

All his on-off girlfriend, Emma Deed, 41, could hear was David shout: ‘You’ve actually stabbed me. Emma, he’s stabbed me.’

Higgins ran outside, his hands covered in blood, and told his neighbours: ‘I’ve stabbed my mate, he was doing my head in.’

Emergency services found Higgins attempting to give David CPR inside the home. He insisted to the police that David had ‘fallen’ on the knife.

Paramedics pronounced David dead at the scene just after 4pm. He had suffered wounds between 12 and 14.5cm deep.

After being handcuffed, Higgins told police: ‘F*****g hell, this is a bit of excitement, isn’t it?’

He later became ‘aggressive’ and headbutted an officer while in custody, police said. Several officers had to restrain him.

Higgins was found guilty of murder following a trial at Chester Crown Court yesterday.

Deed told the court that he pleaded for Higgins to drop the knife – he refused. ‘I then heard Bode say “I’m sorry,” before he slumped over,’ she said, using David’s nickname.

‘I was in a daze and I was screaming out to the neighbours. I was saying to Bode: “Stay with us, you’re alright, you’re fine, you’re alright.”‘

Higgins told the jury that he picked up the kitchen knife to protect himself before David pushed him into the hallway.

‘He pushed me into a seat and I stabbed him,’ Higgins said.

‘He said, “you best give me the knife,” and I stabbed him again. I was scared of him.’

Prosecutor Richard Littler repeated Higgins’ claims that he was acting in self-defence and had tried to save his friend’s life.

‘But stabbing an unarmed man multiple times with a kitchen knife is not an example of a man using reasonable force,’ Littler said.

Higgins pleaded guilty to a separate charge of assaulting an emergency worker. He will be sentenced on Tuesday.

For David’s family, however, the verdict is of little relief.

‘What happened has changed our lives forever. It has been a distressing and emotional few weeks,’ they said.

‘We have lost a son, brother, dad and nephew and nothing can change the devastation caused to our family.’

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