Life for 'name in blood murder'

The court heard that Emmott had developed a psychotic illness

A boyfriend who stabbed a mother-of-two 39 times then wrote the name of her ex-husband in blood next to her body has been jailed for life.

At Cardiff Crown Court on Monday, Justice Keith spoke of the "savagery of your attack on Jacqueline and the very extensive nature of the injuries she received" and told Shaun Emmott that he would serve 14 years before being considered for parole.

"Only you know the circumstances in which Jacqueline Howell met her death, and you are not saying."

The jury had heard how 31-year-old Emmott became convinced that Mrs Howell, 29, was having an affair with her ex-husband, Andrew and he was driven to murder by a violent and aggressive temper and intense jealousy.

Jacqui's death and the terrible circumstances in which it occurred must have devastated all of her family and friends, especially her brothers, sisters, her mother and most of all her two young daughters. Justice Keith

Jane Crowley QC, prosecuting, had suggested that Mrs Howell had ended her relationship with Emmott and had asked him to move out of their home at Dickens Court, Graig-y-Rhacca, near Caerphilly, South Wales.

"Shaun Emmott was determined that if he couldn't have Jacqui as a partner no-one else could either," she said.

Mrs Crowley said Emmott "lured" his victim into his unoccupied flat in nearby Gray's Gardens with the intention of killing her and himself as a "grand gesture," but later changed his mind.

After repeatedly stabbing Mrs Howells, the court heard how Emmott wrote Andrew Howell's nickname "Paddy" next to the body in "an attempt to suggest she had written it herself to leave a hint as to who had done it".

Emmott's footprints made with Mrs Howell's blood were found at the scene of the killing.

Psychiatrist Dr John Sandford had told the court: "I cannot be certain but my opinion is that it would be unlikely it (the killing) would have occurred had he not been suffering from a psychotic illness at the time."

He said that Emmott - who denied the murder of Miss Howell between February 27 and March 2 last year - had developed the illness because of persistent use of amphetamines.

David Aubrey QC, defending, said it was unlikely Emmott would have done what he did if the illness had not played a part.

Addressing Mrs Howell's family and friends who were in court, the judge said: "Jacqui's death and the terrible circumstances in which it occurred must have devastated all of her family and friends, especially her brothers, sisters, her mother and most of all her two young daughters."

"I can only hope this trial has gone some way towards enabling them to begin to come to terms with their terrible loss."