A man who stabbed a dad-of-two in the heart outside a house party has been convicted of his murder.
Adam Fletcher said he was acting in self defence when he killed Paul Stenson outside a house party last December but a jury at Liverpool Crown Court found him guilty of murder this afternoon.
Nathan Finnegan, Fletcher’s best friend, and Demi Walsh, the mum of his child, were found guilty of assisting an offender after helping the 28 year old evade justice for days after the stabbing. Jurors could not reach a verdict on the same charge against co-defendant Susie Lee but they cleared her of a charge of attempted witness intimidation.
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Mr Stenson’s family and friends were in court today as a member of the jury announced they had found Fletcher guilty after more than eight hours of deliberations. The trial, which started almost six weeks ago, heard that Fletcher killed Mr Stenson on Princess Drive on December 19 - only hours after the two met at a party there.
After an argument between the two turned into a scuffle and they were asked to go outside, Fletcher grabbed a kitchen knife from inside the home before hiding it behind his back, pulling Mr Stenson towards him and plunging it into his side. Prosecutors said that knife wound inflicted “catastrophic” damage, going straight through Mr Stenson’s heart and causing him to bleed to death quickly. They also alleged that Walsh, Finnegan and Lee helped the 28-year-old evade justice.
Fletcher maintained throughout the trial that he feared his own life was in danger in the moments before he stabbed the dad-of-two - but today the jury rejected that excuse.
The court heard Mr Stenson’s murder occurred minutes after the fight broke out between him and Fletcher. Richard Pratt QC, prosecuting, said the atmosphere at the party Fletcher and Mr Stenson were attending was good until a disagreement between them over whether Fletcher had been trying to flirt with Mr Stenson’s partner, Samantha Rosser.
The court heard Mr Stenson punched Fletcher and then the two started to scuffle before agreeing to go outside to finish the fight. Mr Pratt said there was no indication to Mr Stenson or anyone else that the fight would involve knives but that Fletcher decided to run and grab a kitchen knife from inside the house before stabbing Mr Stenson with it.
He told jurors last week: “What Liam Fletcher and perhaps others expected to find outside was no more nor less than a fist fight between two individuals but no doubt in the heat of the moment and, we suggest, enraged by Paul Stenson’s attack on him in the kitchen, Adam Fletcher took things to a wholly different and unexpected level.”
The stab wound Fletcher inflicted went straight through Mr Stenson’s heart and punctured one of his lungs. He died within hours. Texts and phone logs show how Finnegan, 30, and Walsh, 28, then helped Fletcher evade the police for days. He was eventually arrested on December 23.
At the conclusion of the trial today, Fletcher, of Palace Road, Finnegan, of Rosalind Way, and Walsh, of Redbourn Street, were all told by Judge Brian Cummings QC that they will be sentenced at a later date. Prosecutors will also decide whether Susie Lee will face a retrial on the charge of assisting an offender.
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