A ‘growling’ knifeman ‘lunged’ at a fellow Countdown competitor at a convention for fans of the Channel 4 quiz show and stabbed him in the arm, a court heard today.
John Cowen, 31, ‘clocked’ Thomas Carey after arriving at the gathering in Blackpool and ran towards him with a kitchen knife in his hand, jurors were told.
CCTV footage played in court showed Cowen stabbing him before other fans of the series overpowered him.
Cowen has been ruled unfit to stand trial as he is ‘seriously mentally unwell’ and currently in hospital, jurors at Preston Crown Court were told.
Instead a finding of fact hearing is taking place after which they will be asked to decide whether he stabbed Mr Carey, but not what his intention was.
At the start of the hearing, potential jurors were asked if they had ever been a contestant on Countdown, were members of its fan club or ‘obsessive watchers’ of the long-running Channel 4 show.
They all indicated that they were not.
Cowen is accused of section 18 wounding with intent and two counts of possession of a bladed article after the incident at the Wainwright Club in Blackpool on September 14 last year.
John Cowen, 31, who made his debut on Countdown in 2017, is accused of stabbing fellow former contestant Thomas Carey in the arm at a convention in Blackpool last September.
Thomas Carey was alleged attacked by John Cowen, 31, at the Countdown in Blackpool 2024 event last year
‘A group of people who have been participants in or are fans of the television show Countdown have for many years been meeting up for social events,’ Rosalind Scott Bell said as she opened the prosecution case today.
‘They have formed a social club called the Focal Countdown group and meet and play Countdown against each other.’
At around 11.30am, club member Mr Carey was talking to two people in the function room when Cowen was caught on CCTV entering the room, a knife ‘glinting’ in his left hand, jurors were told.
Mr Carey recalled hearing Cowen ‘growling’ before he appeared to ‘clock’ him and ran towards him, the prosecutor said.
Initially he thought the knife he was carrying was fake, but Cowen then ‘lunged across the table’ at which he had been sitting and stabbed him in the upper arm.
‘Mr Carey was forced backwards onto the seat behind him.’
Mr Carey – who had been stabbed in the bicep – could be seen ‘kicking out’ at Cowen and grabbing his wrist ‘in an endeavour to stop the assault’, she said.
Other club members managed to pull Cowen away and disarm him, taking him to the ground while police were called.
John Cowen (pictured) was arrested after allegedly attacking a fellow contestant with a knife at the Countdown in Blackpool 2024 event last September
Officers arrived and Cowen – whose hands were covered in blood – was found to have a second identical kitchen knife in his pocket when he was arrested and searched.
Mr Carey was taken to hospital where he was treated for a wound with steri-strips.
Jurors were told that Mr Carey had been a member of the group since about 2011 but Cowen was ‘not a regular attender’.
Cowen is ‘seriously mentally unwell’ and in hospital, Judge Guy Mathieson told jurors, and therefore unable to participate in proceedings or attend court.
Cowen, of Morecambe, Lancashire, made his debut on the Channel 4 show in 2017, scoring the third highest total of the whole series, as well as spotting the nine-letter word ‘spreading’.
Appearing in Series 77, he missed out on joining the 800 club by 1 point, but nonetheless achieved four centuries and performed well in the numbers’ rounds – in which he chose six small numbers in every pick.
Having won all eight of his heat games to become an octochamp, Cowen went on to appear in the series finals as the third seed in December 2017.
But he lost in the semi-finals after he gave an incorrect solution to his final six small numbers selection.
Mr Carey, of Bingley, West Yorkshire, is also a celebrated octochamp of the TV gameshow, making his debut two years before Cowen, in June 2015, when he was a sixth form student.
He topped the series rankings as the number one seed with an impressive 923 points from eight straight wins.
He was the first contestant since 1986 to answer all eight conundrums correctly, but was unable to take his impressive form into the grand final and was eliminated at the semi-final stage.
The case continues.
