A man stopped himself from killing his mum's murderer in "revenge" after he heard her voice telling him not to.
Karen Wheeler was battered to death with a lamp by her husband Mark at their flat in Birkenhead earlier this year. He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 15 years and 10 months yesterday, Friday.
During the 52-year-old's sentencing, the victim's son David Bradley described the "loss, pain and anger" following his mother's death. The pair "spoke every day on the phone or text" and he last saw Ms Wheeler while walking his dog three days before she was killed.
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Mr Bradley discovered the 62-year-old's lifeless body and her husband "covered in blood" upon visiting the apartment on Vittoria Close the day after the murder. He told Liverpool Crown Court: "I saw my mum and I knew she was gone.
"I will never be able not to think of that image. Every day, I see that.
"I wanted to kill Mark in the moment. I remember thinking it would be poetic to kill him for revenge, then kill myself, but I heard my mum's voice in my head telling me not to give my life up because he had already taken hers.
"Every day it hurts. I don't sleep much, and when I do I have terrible dreams and flashbacks of the moment of seeing my mum on the floor.
"Mark is a monster. These are his choices.
"He's not sick or mentally unwell, he's evil. He is a coward."
Mr Bradley walks past the bus stop where he last saw his mum daily, Meanwhile the high rise tower block where she lived can be seen "from everywhere you go in town".
He added: "Every day I am surrounded by my mum and what he did to her. The friendship and love I shared with my mum will never be replaced."
The court heard that the couple began their relationship in 2007 before marrying seven years later. They lived in a 13th-storey unit and there had been "no history of domestic violence" - although Ms Wheeler reported that her husband "had begun to act in an insecure and needy way" in the months before her death.
On the morning of May 11 this year, she returned home from a night shift - having been employed as a carer for assisted living residents by a housing association. She dozed off on a settee in the living room before her spouse began his attack as she slept.
Gordon Cole KC, prosecuting, described how she was subjected to a "sustained and very violent assault" and was repeatedly struck "with a heavy blunt object" - suffering at least 25 separate blows to her head. Under interview following his arrest, the killer described how he first bludgeoned her with a "heavy salt lamp with a wooden base" - an instrument which was later found covered in blood next to Ms Wheeler's body.
She was knocked unconscious but came around again at one stage and "asked what he was doing". The shop worker told her he "had to" kill her and was going to take his own life, and began hitting her again with the object.
Wheeler then left the room, but upon returning believed she had moved. As a result, he took a knife and began stabbing her "to make sure she was dead" before drinking whisky and attempting to take an overdose of tablets.
His suicide bid was unsuccessful, however. The following morning, he left the address in order to buy beer.
But Mr Bradley began to have growing concerns over her mum. He had been due to meet her in late afternoon on the day of her murder and went to the property shortly after 3.15pm, receiving no response.
Messages he left with her remained unread, and he also could not get in touch with Mark Wheeler. Mr Bradley returned to the flat at 6pm on May 12, but again did not get an answer.
He checked in with his mother's employer, but was told that she had been on rest days. After trying to call both parties once more "without success", he contacted the police shortly after 7pm and went back to the apartment.
Mr Bradley was let in by the murderer, who was "covered in blood". Ms Wheeler was "clearly dead on the floor with substantial head injuries", while the defendant was making comments about debts and that "the bailiffs were coming".
When officers attended the scene and arrested him, Wheeler said "he didn’t need a solicitor as he had killed his wife". He later added "he had had his hours cut at work and was in debt" while their credit cards had been maxed out, but he "did not want Karen to know".
A post-mortem investigation revealed that she had suffered fractures to the skull and facial bones, bleeding on the brain, stab wounds to the head, chest and shoulder and "defensive" injuries to her hands and arms. Stanley Reiz KC, defending, told the court that doctors concluded his client - who has no previous convictions - had been suffering an "acute stress reaction" after a receiving phone call telling him bailiffs would be visiting at 5pm that day.
He added: "This is a tragic but unusual case. The defendant was a law-abiding and hard-working man whose mental state became so fragile due to his financial difficulties that he had lost the will to live.
"What is unusual is Mr Wheeler, desperate and irrational, concluded his wife's life should be ended as well. The evidence tends to suggest they were happily married and loved each other very much.
"He still says good morning and goodnight to his wife. He says he loved her deeply and will never forgive himself for what he did to her."
Wheeler admitted murder during an earlier hearing in August. Sentencing, Judge Denis Watson KC said: "She was a loving wife to you and a much-loved mother - her friends and family will always mourn her death."
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