A lorry driver and ex-DJ who stabbed his associate’s mom to dying in a drunken assault after she tried to assist her daughter has been jailed for all times with a minimal time period of 20 years.
Damian Homer, 51, additionally stabbed his associate, Stacey Hill, 38, who tried to protect her mom, Wendy Francis, from the kitchen knife he wielded after an argument.
Homer, who beforehand pleaded responsible to homicide and tried homicide, stabbed Francis, 61, twice within the chest after she used a key to let herself into her daughter’s house after being alerted that he had armed himself and was being violent.
Prosecutor Harpreet Sandhu KC mentioned Francis noticed her daughter screaming and being attacked within the kitchen when she arrived on the property in Worcester on 2 March.
Sandhu advised the court docket that Francis advised Homer: “Get off my daughter,” earlier than he beat each girls repeatedly after which stabbed Francis.
“Stacey Hill then got on top of her mother so that any further blows with the knife would be delivered to her rather than her mother,” Sandhu mentioned.
Francis suffered stab wounds which handed via her left lung and liver, went into cardiac arrest and was pronounced lifeless at 9.18pm.
Hill suffered wounds to her hand, thigh, chest and stomach, and pleaded with paramedics to help her mom earlier than they helped her, Sandhu added. She spent 10 days in hospital, three of them in intensive care.
Homer sat together with his head bowed and ceaselessly sobbed within the dock as members of the family, together with Francis’s son, described the killing as “evil” in sufferer affect statements learn to the court docket.
Homer, who lived with Hill on the handle, initially claimed he had been performing in self-defence, however wrote a letter to his associate whereas in custody saying “alcohol possessed me” and that he had little or no recollection of the assaults.
He claimed he consumed eight cans of cider and additional drinks, together with a part of a bottle of wine, on the day of the homicide.
Defence KC Tim Hannam mentioned Homer was “devastated and mortified” by his actions and had “destroyed the lives of everyone in his family”. Homer had started to drink to extra in 1998 after dropping his job and struggling again issues, the court docket heard.
Passing sentence, Decide Rupert Mayo described the homicide as a “senseless killing”.
“It would not be an exaggeration to say that both women were fighting for their lives,” he mentioned.
In a press release issued via West Mercia police, Francis’s household mentioned: “She welcomed Damian Homer into the family with open arms, showing nothing but love, support and loyalty towards him, which makes all of this so much harder to comprehend.
“We will never come to terms with why this happened, but what we do know is she will be loved and missed forever. The void she has left in the lives of her family and friends is one that will never be filled.”
Retired DCI Leighton Harding, who led the investigation, recommended Hill for giving proof within the case. “Despite the unimaginable trauma she faced, the bravery she has shown has been inspiring and without doubt the evidence she was able to provide was instrumental in securing the conviction of Homer and today’s sentence,” he mentioned.
