A woman fatally knifed her boyfriend in the heart, then claimed he had been stabbed by "some fella in town".
Emma Walsh had watched a Liverpool FC game in the pub with her partner Gary Morgan before they returned to her Everton home, where she plunged a knife into his chest. But the 31-year-old claimed he had attended at the property with the catastrophic injury after being attacked by an unknown male.
She then told police: "Why would I do it? I love him."
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Walsh is accused of murder, with a trial at Liverpool Crown Court having opened this morning, Wednesday. A jury of six men and six women heard that the couple's year-long relationship had been marred by a series of domestic incidents.
This included her attacking Mr Morgan - who had his own paving business, Amazing Paving - with the "tools of his trade", such as a rake, a spirit level and knives. The 36-year-old's family and friends often noticed injuries to his head and face, "which he explained had been caused by the defendant".
John Benson KC, prosecuting, told jurors: "It was, the prosecution say, a volatile relationship punctuated by frequent rows and arguments and, sadly, violence. The defendant, usually intoxicated, was violent towards Gary Morgan.
"Witnesses speak of the defendant losing her temper over something and nothing and behaving aggressively. On occasion, the police had been called to deal with heated arguments and alleged assaults involving the defendant and the deceased.
"There were allegations and counter allegations. Whilst there may have been occasional incidents when the defendant himself reacted violently towards the defendant’s aggression, the overall impression is of a relationship in which the defendant was controlling, abusive and could - and did - lose her temper very easily, was jealous of any contact that the defendant had with other women or that she perceived he had or may have had.
"Her anger moved very quickly to violence. On April 10, there was a further incident in a pattern of violence which proved fatal."
At around 11.20pm on that Sunday, Walsh rang 999 and told the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) Mr Morgan was "cold and had gone purple". She also informed the call handler that he had "had an argument with some fella in town and when he returned he had a puncture wound to his chest".
The ambulance service informed the police, who attended the bungalow on Lavan Close and found the gravely injured man lying on the living room floor. Walsh was attempting CPR under instruction from NWAS.
Mr Morgan - from Prescot - had sustained a knife wound to the left side of chest, was unresponsive and in cardiac arrest. He was rushed to the Royal Liverpool Hospital in a critical condition, but was pronounced dead shortly after midnight.
A post-mortem investigation later found he had suffered a "deep stab wound", with the knife having passed through his ribs and left lung and into the heart. A smaller knife wound to his upper left arm was also discovered, as was a minor cut on Mr Morgan's neck.
Crime scene investigators subsequently discovered a blood-stained knife in the kitchen sink of the address. The pathologist concluded that the fatal wound was "entirely compatible with having been caused by" this weapon.
Earlier in the evening, Walsh and Mr Morgan - who met in March 2021 and frequently drank together, while "cocaine use figured" - had been watching LFC's 2-2 draw at Manchester City in the nearby Belmont pub on West Derby Road. They then walked back to Lavan Close, where she lived with her dad, together shortly before 10pm.
An "intoxicated" Walsh told officers at the scene: "He got attacked. He got a wound to his chest."
When asked who had attacked Mr Morgan, she replied: "I'm not sure. It happened before he came back.
"We were having a drink and were at the Belmont watching the match. We walked home."
Walsh falsely claimed that they had not walked home together and he later "pulled his top up" to reveal the stab wound. She added: "He’s been alright for the next half hour or so.
"I wouldn’t hurt him. I love him."
When she was arrested, initially on suspicion of attempted murder, Walsh replied: "Why? Why are you arresting me, because I have done nothing wrong - if I wanted to kill him, why would I do that thing?"
Once in custody, she was noted to have "some old bruises" as well a small abrasion under her left eye with surrounding bruising. When first interviewed in the early afternoon of April 11, she told detectives that Mr Morgan had smashed a speaker during an argument.
Walsh alleged that she had then pushed him to the floor and he had been injured by a broken piece of plastic from the device. She said: "We went to watch the match in the Belmont pub with his mate, got a bit drunk, we had a few bits of drugs.
"We come back home and then it just started escalating, because he gets mouthy. Then he smashed me speaker.
"Then I pushed, he fell, we’ve lay down and I’ve noticed he’s been bleeding on one side. We’ve took his jumper off, then after that he was just turning all purple and that, so I’ve rang the ambulance."
Walsh - who appeared in the dock wearing a grey cardigan over black clothing and with her light brown hair tied back in a clip - was interviewed again the following day following the post-mortem examination, which "discounted" his injuries being caused by the piece of plastic. She then claimed to have acted in self-defence, saying: "I did do it yeah.
"We’ve had a few drinks at home, we went to the pub, we got back home, he smashed me speaker. He started getting hostile, he’s pushed me, I’ve pushed him.
"So I went into the kitchen, just to get out the way, and then he’s come in and started grabbing me. He’s screaming in my face, pushing me - so I picked up a knife, but he’s had hold of me.
"I only hit him that side, and then we both took the jumper off. Then he started coming at me speaking all verbal, shouting, being abusive to me and then he just started coming at me, grabbing me, pushing me.
"He always grabs me by the throat and stuff, I’ve been here a few times through domestic violence and stuff. I’ve got pictures on me phone of a bust nose, black eyes, but this time it just went too far."
Mr Benson added: "The prosecution say that if you strike someone in the chest with a knife with sufficient force to penetrate the lung and then the heart, what other intention can you have had at that time other than to cause at least really serious harm? The defendant may now bitterly regret what she did on the night of April 10, but her intentions are to be judged at the time she struck the blow with the knife in temper and in drink.
"Whatever argument had developed did not justify her going into the kitchen, arming herself with a knife and stabbing him - as she clearly did."
Walsh, who is defended by Richard Pratt KC, denies murder. The trial, before the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC, continues and is expected to last around three weeks.
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