Just been reading that, Angers. When I lived in Whitleigh, The Kings arms was my watering hole of choice. It was only a 15 minute walk away. In fact, I did have an invite for a drink down there on NYE from an old friend. Jeeezzz - glad I made plans to go elsewhere.
Imho, it (the stabbing) sounds premeditated. You don't go out for a quiet NYE drink in a relative quiet area armed with an axe and a knife. Gang related? Drugs? Family feud? Sad in any case.
Very sad about the death in the Union Street fire also. Can't quite remembering a new year starting so tragically.