RHYL: MATTHEW MACMILLAN JAILED FOR TWO ATTEMPTED MURDERS
A MAN from Rhyl who tried to murder his grandmother and his neighbour in a knife attack has been jailed for 25 years."Extraordinarily dangerous" Matthew MacMillan used two knives to stab Carol MacMillan and Katherine Hughes-King repeatedly on July 3, 2025.
MacMillan, 38, of Meredith Crescent, was sentenced at Mold Crown Court today (January 12), having admitted two counts of attempted murder in November.
He will serve at least two-thirds of his sentence in custody before he can apply to the Parole Board to be released on an extended five-year licence.
Prosecutor Anna Pope said MacMillan first attacked his grandmother, then aged 82, under the impression that she had taken money that he won from gambling.
He lived with his grandmother, with Mrs Hughes-King, then 47, living in the flat below them.
While striking Carol MacMillan with a knife, he told her she had his money, and wanted her to return it.
He repeatedly struck her to the head with a knife, and also used his other fist while on a staircase.
As he went to get a larger knife, she ran outside, shouting for help and fearing for her life.
MacMillan pushed his grandmother into the flat of Mrs Hughes-King, then threw his grandmother out, leaving him alone with Mrs Hughes-King in the flat.
By then armed with a bread knife, he shouted at Mrs Hughes-King: "You will die right now." He picked up Mrs Hughes-King's dog and "swung it" in her lounge before assaulting Mrs Hughes-King, telling her he had "planned it since the first time he saw her".
MacMillan then forced Mrs Hughes-King onto the ground and stabbed her more than 20 times.
He jumped on her chest, strangled her, pulled her hair, and threatened to break her jaw.
He then put her hands into her mouth, bit her to the forehead, and told her he was going to kill her and "eat her skin".
He then continued stabbing her repeatedly, and threatened to "eat her eyeballs".
By the time police arrived, Carol MacMillan was safely outside, but the defendant was locked in Mrs Hughes-King's property with her.
He repeatedly hit her with the knife, then with the knife handle after it broke.
Officers forced entry to Mrs Hughes-King's flat, and saw her on the ground with MacMillan over her.
Even after police attended, MacMillan continued repeatedly striking Mrs Hughes-King with the knife, or the knife handle.
He was tasered, and an officer had to pull him away from her before arresting him.
Mrs Hughes-King asked for her phone "to call her children before she died" - while being detained, MacMillan repeated: "I'm sorry." He added: "She had to die for trying to kill me.
The only reason this happened is because of what she did.
That woman stole 77 grand from me, or whatever the f*** it was, so me doing that to her is absolutely fine, isn’t it?" While being taken to a police van, he said Carol MacMillan "deserved it".
He added to police: "I had every right to do what I did.
She deserved that and you know it." He was taken to hospital, where he told officers he’d been "forced to kill someone for 80 grand".
He added: "They’ve allowed this woman to steal from me." MacMillan continued to say he was "forced to kill my neighbour;" in hospital, he threatened to break the jaw of a nurse who tried to treat him.
In custody, he said: "Some stupid b**** stole 80 grand from me, and I killed her.
And I will happily go to jail for that." Carol MacMillan sustained a number of puncture wounds, and was taken to Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Bodelwyddan, where her lacerations were closed; she was discharged later on July 3.
Mrs Hughes-King was airlifted to the Royal Stoke University Hospital, where she was treated for her injuries, which included more than 20 puncture wounds to her upper body.
She had also sustained a collapsed lung and rib fractures, and was discharged from hospital on July 6.
Defending MacMillan, who had three previous convictions for nine offences, Simon Rogers said he presents with a moderate depressive disorder, complicated by "chronic cannabis misuse," epilepsy and childhood trauma.
Mr Rogers added: "The defendant, this morning, has asked me to apologise on his behalf for what he did." "He understands what he's done has had a truly devastating impact upon the victims, and also, sadly, their families." Sentencing, Judge Rhys Rowlands told MacMillan he targeted two "vulnerable" individuals; something he was "well aware of".
Judge Rowlands added: "It is a testament to the officers, the paramedics, and the medical staff in hospital, that Mrs Hughes-King survived.
Both were attacked in their own homes, where they ought to have been safe.
There is a degree of gratuitous degradation in what you were doing and saying to Mrs Hughes-King in her own home.
This was dreadful behaviour on your part.
It was chilling, protracted, and only came to an end when the police tasered you and pulled you away.
You are an extraordinarily dangerous offender."
