London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Bristol teenager jailed for life for doorstep knife attack on doctor

Bristol teenager jailed for life for doorstep knife attack on doctor

Chanz Maximen dragged victim out of his home and stabbed him nine times before committing two further attacks

A teenager who dragged a doctor out of his house and stabbed him nine times in a random, unprovoked attack has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 12 years.

Chanz Maximen was 17 years old when he knocked on Dr Adam Towler’s front door in Clifton, Bristol, and shone a light through the letterbox on 30 October 2019.

Towler initially thought the knock was a Halloween prank, but Maximen pulled him into the road and stabbed him repeatedly, including with a blow that missed his heart by two centimetres.

The defendant told him: “You killed the girl,” a phrase that he has never explained and which meant nothing to the victim or investigators.

Maximen left the doctor for dead in the street and vacated the immediate vicinity but did not go far.

Towler, a former trauma specialist, managed to crawl back inside his house but was bleeding so profusely he was initially unable to use his phone keypad or facial recognition to call 999.

Chanz Maximen.


When Towler eventually managed to make the call, Maximen returned to the address and could be heard throwing his full body weight against the front door trying to force his way in. Towler described the door frame as “flexing” under Maximen’s weight.

Maximen was not arrested immediately and carried out two more random attacks in the city in the following weeks.

On 20 November, he targeted warehouse worker Wojtek Rozmiarek as he made his way home on foot from a night shift. Rozmiarek had sat on a bench to download a podcast when Maximen approached him from behind and sliced him across the face.

Judge William Hart remarked at Maximen’s sentencing hearing at Bristol crown court on Wednesday that he was satisfied he had intended to slit Rozmiarek’s throat.

The next night Maximen followed student Annabel Everitt as she returned home from a night out, before knocking on her door and forcing his way in with a knife.

Maximen denied the attempted murder of Towler, grievous bodily harm with intent of Rozmiarek, and two counts of possession of a knife, but was convicted after a trial last December. He admitted a lesser charge of wounding Rozmiarek.

The defendant was cleared of the aggravated burglary of Everitt’s address, although the judge said he was “quite satisfied” he was the individual who had forced his way in.

Hart said it was evident that the jury was unsure what Maximen’s motive for entry was.

Edd Hetherington, the barrister representing Maximen, told the court that his client had suffered from a developmental disorder that was a combination of a learning difficulty and a communication disorder.

Hetherington said that Maximen had a very supportive home life and his mother had been a constant presence throughout the trial. She was too distressed to attend the sentencing hearing, but the defendant’s grandfather was in the public gallery.

Jailing Maximen for life with a minimum term of 12 years, Hart said: “There is no logical explanation for any of your offending other than that you are a highly dangerous young man with a wholly distorted view of life and appropriate conduct.

“It is not due to any recognised mental illness or diagnosed personality disorder and I can only conclude that it is simply because, for whatever reason, you are just like that, perhaps as a consequence of the impact of your earlier life experiences and the difficulties under which you labour.”

Towler – who now develops medical software – came to court to give a victim impact statement in which he expressed his concern for the defendant and his future, and the fact he would spend so long in prison.

“When I compared my position with what I imagined yours to be, it sort of didn’t seem fair, although I know that’s hard to understand,” he said.

Hart described Towler’s statement as “extraordinary”, saying: “Whether it is the effect of intellect, or faith, or kindness and understanding, I don’t know.

“If it is the consequence of intellect, I admire it. If it is the consequence of faith, I envy it.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
Jellyfish Swarm Triggers Shutdown at Gravelines Nuclear Power Station in Northern France
×