A woman claimed she "wouldn't do nothing to hurt" her boyfriend before killing him after she stabbed him in the heart.
Emma Walsh is now facing a life sentence after killing Gary Morgan at her home in Lavan Close, Everton, on April 10 this year. Jurors at Liverpool Crown Court returned their verdict on Friday, October 14, after an hour and 37 minutes of deliberation.
The trial previously heard Walsh attacked 36-year-old Mr Morgan, from Prescot, after the couple had gone out for the evening at the Belmont Pub, where they watched a Liverpool FC match and stayed for a karaoke night. John Benson, KC, prosecuting, had told the jury Walsh was a "controlling individual with an explosive temper", particularly after drinking.
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Walsh had claimed she stabbed Mr Morgan in self-defence, but the jury heard Mr Morgan had told friends and family that she had assaulted him on several occasions before the fatal incident, including stabbing him with a butter knife and hitting him with a rake. The jury also heard Walsh had stabbed a previous partner.
During the trial, the jury was also read a series of texts which were sent between the couple before Mr Morgan's death. After one incident between the two Walsh had said she was "gonna end it all".
On June 7, 2021, Mr Morgan said in a message: "Never want to see you again you nasty piece of s***. You went too far yesterday.
"My face is split open, got bite marks on my chest and shattered my elbow. I'm no f***ing punchbag."
Walsh told Mr Morgan she was "gonna end it all", adding: "I love you and no matter what I always will do. Just please remember me for the good times."
He responded: "You hit me across the head with a f***ing rake. If you'd had a knife, you would have stabbed me.
"You're a f***ing bully and I want you out of my life. I'm not staying around to get killed by you." In a series of other messages Mr Morgan added he would "end up dead soon".
Ten days later on June 17, Mr Morgan messaged Walsh saying: "You swore you'll never do it again, and less than a week later you're doing it again. I told you, I wont have you punching me and I meant it Emma."
Walsh pleaded with Mr Morgan to stay with her, telling him she loved him and had "lost too much already". He responded: "Tried too many times with no change."
More messages were exchanged between the pair, with Mr Morgan telling Walsh at one point "You'll end up killing me. Can't even laugh in front of you without you kicking off." He added :"You was threatening to send Crocky heads to my mum's house Emma. You were trying to stab me for f***s sake.
"You just can't go on like that. You'll end up on a murder charge."
Mr Morgan sent a message to Walsh's cousin saying "Emma's just stabbed me in the neck", before telling the defendant: "Picking a knife up is bad, never mind sticking it in my neck. You could have killed me.
"You just flip and start accusing me and threatening me with Crocky rats. I can't even eat properly because my jaw's killing."
Walsh told him that she was "off the ale for a bit", adding: "It will not happen ever again, at all. I pinkie promise."
Mr Morgan replied: "You can't just stab me in the neck and just forget about it. I can't get my head round why you started trying to stab me.
"I still can't believe you've done it to be honest. You ended it when you started picking up knives.
"This time you've gone too far. Next time you might not be as lucky and hit an artery.
"Why do you do it? You wasn't a***d as long as you didn't get done."
Walsh accused Mr Morgan of "chasing her with a spade" in one message, although he stated he was actually "chasing the lads you was with". He also said she had "threatened to burn his mum's house" and accused her of "getting off your cake with all lads", "s***ging that pie face" and "getting banged by lads from the Sheil".
Another message read: "Not getting bullied by you any more and hope you get bullied in jail. Don't want a flat with you so you can lock me in there and try and stab me, I'm getting you done for this and biting my arm.
"You punched my face in for f*** all. You smashed a glass then came at me with it."
Walsh said she would go on an anger management course, adding: "I wouldn't do nothing to hurt you, you know I wouldn't. I don't want this to be it you know - but if you do I understand, truly.
"I love you so much. I want to spend the rest of my life with you Gary."
Mr Benson said during his closing arguments: "You can recall his excitement at thought of meeting Emma Walsh. Little would he have known he was embarking on a romance with a young woman who, we say, had some deep seated character flaws.
"Those flaws provide the clue as to what happened that night. She is, we suggest, a controlling individual. It is a characteristic coupled with an irrational, suspicious mistrust of her partners and an explosive temper, particularly when in drink - a readiness to use violence with teeth and weapons, including knives. Sadly, the reality is there was never going to be a happy ending to this relationship.
"In a drink-fuelled rage, she attacked Gary Morgan with the knife. This was nothing other than an attack, when the defendant had no reason to be defending herself from a violent attack by Gary Morgan."
Mr Benson said Walsh "has it in herself to attack people with knives". He referred to an incident in which she is said to have stabbed her former partner Ayton Courtney-Stevens, whom he said "nearly suffered the very same fate as Gary Morgan".
Richard Pratt KC, defending, had argued that Walsh had also been the victim of violence from Mr Morgan and the prosecution had not disproved that she was acting in self defence. But Mr Benson highlighted that Walsh's story had changed from her first accounts, which included claiming he had been attacked by "some fella in town" and also that he had sustained his fatal injury after falling onto a broken shard of a bluetooth speaker.
The Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC said he would pass sentence on Monday, October 17.
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