A woman is facing a life sentence after she stabbed her boyfriend in the heart - killing him.
Emma Walsh killed Gary Morgan, 36, at her home in Lavan Close, Everton, on April 10 this year with jurors at Liverpool Crown Court returning their verdict on Friday, October 14 - following an hour and 27 minutes of deliberation. Previously, the trial heard how Walsh attacked Mr Morgan, from Prescot, after they went out together for the evening to watch a football match.
John Benson, KC, prosecuting, told the jury how Walsh was a "controlling individual with an explosive temper" which especially came out after she drank. Walsh claimed that she stabbed Mr Morgan in self-defence, however, the jury heard Mr Morgan had informed his friends that she assaulted him on several previous occasions, the Liverpool Echo reports.
On one occasion, she stabbed him with a butter knife and hit him with a rake. Walsh had also stabbed a previous partner she was in a relationship with, the jury heard.
Throughout the trial, the jury heard a series of texts which were sent between the couple before Mr Morgan's tragic death. On one occasion, Walsh claimed that she was "gonna end it all" after an incident happened between the two.
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." After claiming she was "gonna end it all", she added: "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 said he would "end up dead soon".
Ten days later, Mr Morgan sent a message to 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."
However, Walsh begged Mr Morgan to stay with her, saying that she loved him and has "lost too much already". In response, Mr Morgan said: "Tried too many times with no change."
In another text exchange, Mr Morgan told Walsh: "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 had also sent a message to Walsh's cousin, saying: "Emma's just stabbed me in the neck." He then told 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."
In response, Walsh said she was "off the ale for a bit", and told him: "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."
In another message, Walsh accused Mr Morgan of "chasing her with a spade" although he claimed he was actually "chasing the lads you was with". He also claimed that she had "threatened to burn hig mum's house" and accused her of "getting off your cake with all lads", "s***gin 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 claimed 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 added that Walsh "has it in herself to attack people with knives" and referenced a former incident in which she stabbed her former partner Ayton Courtney-Stevens who he claims "nearly suffered the very same fate as Gary Morgan".
Richard Pratt, KC, defending argued that Walsh had also been the victim of violence from Mr Morgan, stating that the prosecution had not disproved that she was acting in self-defence. However, Mr Benson noted that Walsh's story had changed from her first accounts.
She initially claimed that 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.
Read next:
-
Jet2 air hostess high on cocaine caught drug-driving twice in 24 hours - but avoids jail
-
Man who begged uncle 'take me to France' after stabbing rival was dragged to police instead
-
Blood shortage emergency: In Manchester, there's plenty of donors but not enough staff
-
Two boys attacked by teenage knife thugs outside Swinton school
