Just before 2am on July 17, 2022, Rebecca Press left a voicemail for her ex boyfriend Ashley Allen who she had broke up with that day. She was in a state of panic and intoxication as she blurted out her confession.
“Ash it’s really bad. It’s really f****** bad. I’ve just stabbed someone and killed them. I’ve just murdered someone, please phone me now. F*** (screams). I’ve just murdered someone”.
Minutes previously, Press had taken a knife from her mother's kitchen drawer and stabbed family friend Marc Ash in the chest near his heart. The single stab wound caused Mr Ash to suffer cardiac arrest and within the hour he was dead. Immediately after the fatal assault, Press went into her mother's bedroom and told her "I have stabbed your f****** best friend".
You can read our full coverage of the case here.
Making all attempts to escape, pink-haired Press begged a passer-by: “Get me from here, I need to get from here”. She called Mr Allen's mother and begged her for a lift but was refused. Upon her eventual arrest, she feigned surprise and told officers “What, has someone died?”... Have I murdered someone?”
She continued to deny murdering Mr Ash, and claimed she had acted in self defence as her victim was acting aggressively and she had grabbed the nearest object at hand, a knife. She maintained her innocence before dramatically changing her plea at trial and was sentenced to life imprisonment. This is the full story of how Rebecca Press murdered Marc Ash in a senseless killing which left a daughter without a father and parents without a son.
The victim
Richard Marc Ash, 57, was described by his parents "a quiet, gentle, loving, generous person". His daughter described him as intelligent, kind, gentle, and funny. He had an in-depth knowledge of music and other subjects. We shared similar interests."
He was the best friend and close neighbour of his eventual murderer's mother Michelle Press, and both lived in Long Row, New Tredegar, in Caerphilly. Describing her friend, Ms Press said they were like "two peas in a pod". She added: "He’s my bestie. Good as gold, we do everything together… Every day he does something. I go to his mother’s and father’s for dinner. We weren’t in a relationship – we were besties.... I told [Marc] everything so he knew everything – that’s the kind of friendship we had. He was always there for me.”
Shaun Robinson, the landlord of the Dynevor Arms said: "I would describe him as a happy-go-lucky person, eccentric, alcohol-dependent, up for fun and a chat. I would describe him as a nice guy. I’ve never known him to be aggressive.”
Events leading up to the murder
Press had been trying to get hold of her partner Mr Allen throughout July 15 and 16 and was becoming increasingly frustrated. She also contacted her brother Gavin Press, a friend of her partner's but was unsuccessful. She suspected Mr Allen was with another woman, and called him a "dirty c***"
She called her mother, who arrived with a friend at her home in Second Avenue, Trecenydd, to take her back to the flat in Long Row. Press told her mother she had split up with Mr Allen and it was agreed she would stay in New Tredegar for the weekend.
During the afternoon of July 16, the defendant and Michelle Press spent the sunny afternoon drinking in a communal garden, and Press told her mother she had taken four Valium tablets. Knowing how her daughter would behave after taking drink and drugs, she asked her to stop drinking but Press carried on.
The pair were later joined by Mr Ash and three other neighbours. There came a point when Press said she wanted to go the pub, and Mr Ash agreed to go along with her. They initially went to New Tredegar Rugby Club before heading to the Dynevor Arms nearby and were seen on CCTV laughing and talking. Landlord Mr Robinson described the pair "having a good time" and Press was seen dancing and taking selfies on her phone. Both her and Mr Ash were filmed in the beer garden, with Press glued to her phone at times.
The atmosphere changed after Press became trapped inside a toilet cubicle inside the pub. Barmaid Millie Whyberd heard the defendant shouting and went to assist. She said: "I went to get a chair and a pool cue to bang the latch open. [Press] was agitated and shouting to be let out. She opened the door without any help [and] walked straight past me saying she couldn’t believe she was locked in the toilet.
“She began to accuse me of locking her in the toilet which was impossible as it locks inside the toilet. She walked outside the pub and I returned to the counter to serve people. I went outside the pub to collect glasses. Becky was still outside shouting and accusing me and others of locking her in the toilet. She walked away from the pub with Marc just ahead. He wasn’t getting involved.”
Ms Press was relaxing on her bed watching Netflix when she received a call from Press saying she had been locked in the toilets in the pub. She said her daughter was slurring her words and told her the lock was on the inside of the door. She said Mr Ash phoned her and said she was playing up so she told him to come home.
The murder
Press arrived back at Long Row half an hour after Mr Ash. She had messaged Mr Allen: “Never can I see u again. Heart’d broke=wish u all the best”, effectively ending the relationship. As she arrived at her mother's flat, her brother Gavin Press also arrived.
She interrogated her brother and began screaming at him to tell her who Mr Allen had been "shagging". She also called the police to tell them there was a warrant out for Mr Press' arrest. It was at this point Ms Press became involved and told her children to stop "shouting and screaming". She claimed Press assaulted her by headbutting her.
She said: "'Don’t you spit in my face.' I didn’t spit in her face – sometimes it just happens when you’re talking. She got up and gripped my arm. I pushed and next thing she put her teeth towards me. It was so quick and there was blood everywhere.” Ms Press went into her bedroom and Mr Ash called the police
The confrontation continued and Mr Press said the defendant pulled a kitchen drawer out and grabbed a knife, which she threatened to stab him with. Mr Press said: "Said she was going to stab me or something like, people say things but don’t mean things…" Mr Ash intervened, a decision which would cost him his life
In footage subsequently recorded by a police officer, Mr Press described the stabbing. He said: "It started off yeah. My sister did have a go at Marc and Marc just told her: ‘Listen, why you speaking to me like that for? I took you and your mother out earlier and had a nice day’...
"Yeah… But on the last occasion, that was when he got stabbed, literally. She came up at me with a knife and was saying to Marc like that and went like that (motions with arm) in his chest…"
Press used the three-inch knife to stab Mr Ash in the chest up to the handle, narrowly missing his heart and piercing the aortic arch which caused him to bleed profusely. Ms Press said: "“I could hear shouting and screaming… The next thing I knew she came in the bedroom and said ‘I’ve just stabbed your f****** best friend’. I was on the phone to the ambulance. He was breathing and I just said: ‘Come on. Just say something…' I was touching his face and talking to him..."
The aftermath
Before leaving Long Row, Press used her mother's phone to find her own phone, not paying any attention to Mr Ash who lay dying on the floor. A voicemail was left on Ms Press' phone, on which the defendant could be heard saying "I’m going to hurt Marc… Get my phone mam or I’m going to go in there and stamp on his head watch it”. She then left the flat and made her escape.
Police officers Christopher Butler and Gareth Morgan arrived at Long Row at 1.13am in response to the initial calls and were not aware somebody had been stabbed. As they entered the address, they saw Gavin Press looking "pale and in shock". They saw Mr Ash lying on the kitchen floor in the recovery position. They could see a kitchen drawer had been pulled out onto the floor and the murder weapon was recovered from the side of the fridge.
Mr Ash was still alive at that stage but was pale in colour and his breathing laboured. He had a wound to his upper chest which was bleeding. An emergency response doctor arrived at 1.44am, but Mr Ash was in cardiac arrest by that stage. It was agreed to open the chest wall to allow access to his heart but it was clear the injuries were not survivable. Resuscitation was stopped and Mr Ash was declared dead at 2am.
Meanwhile, Press was hiding in a bush and had called Ashley Allen. She left a voicemail which said: "Ash, it’s really bad. Its really f****** bad. I’ve just stabbed someone and killed them. I’ve just murdered someone, please phone me now. F*** (screams). I’ve just murdered someone." She also sent a text message to her mother, which read: "Bye I’ve slit my throat see u on other side”. But she had not self-harmed.
Passer-by David Price later heard Press as he walked passed New Tredegar Rugby Club, and called out to him: "Get me from here, I need to get from here”. Mr Price and Press walked together but upon seeing the blue flashing lights of the police, the defendant ran off as Mr Price pointed the police in the direction she had run.
Press then called Mr Allen's mother Stephanie. She was sobbing and told her she had stabbed "the man next door" who she claimed was picking on her and she had murdered him. She said she had stabbed him in the neck and "was sure he was dead". Press asked Ms Allen for a lift, but was refused. Ms Allen texted back "I feel gutted for you having to do life in prison I bet your mother will break her heart. I would if Ashley had done that. I will come and visit you.”
At 3.14am Press walked back towards Long Row and was seen by officers who arrested her on suspicion of murder. She feigned surprise, saying: “On suspicion of what?” The killer kept asking what she had been arrested for, and replied “What has someone died?... Have I murdered someone?"
The police interview
A bag Press was carrying at the time of her arrest was searched and was found to contain green vegetable matter and plastic wraps containing blue tablets, which were found to contain MDMA and bromazolam. A urine sample was taken and she was found to be under the influence of alcohol, benzodiazepine, amphetamine, MDMA, and THC.
She was taken to Ystrad Mynach custody suite and interviewed by police. She answered "no comment" to all questions, but provided a prepared statement. It said: “I deny the offence of murder. I went up my mother’s address on the 16th July at around 11am. My mother, Michelle and her friend, Malcolm picked me up from my address in Trecenydd and Malcolm dropped me and my mother to her address in Elliot’s Town. Malcolm has then left and gone home.
“Me, my mother and the victim Richard Marc Ash and a load of neighbours then sat in the communal back garden and we were enjoying the weather and having a few drinks. Me and Marc then decided to go to the Dynevor Arms at around 6-7pm on July 16, 2022.
“After a few hours (when it was dark), me and Marc have gone back to my mother’s address of Long Row. My brother Gavin Press, has then turned up at my mother’s address and there has been a verbal argument between him and my mother.
“I have then got involved and told my brother to leave the address. I have then started arguing with me mother as a result of this. It was at this point, Marc has then left the kitchen and gone into her bedroom.
“Marc has been very aggressive towards me and started pushing and grabbing me. He has then grabbed me by my arms (causing bruising to the inside of both arms) and started trying to push me and pin me against the kitchen. I was fearful as to what he was going to do because I’ve never seen him act like that before. Marc is normally a chilled and mellow character but wasn’t at this point.
“In self-defence, I have tried to push him away but he has continued to be aggressive. I have picked up the closest item to me from the kitchen worktop, which was a knife and I have hit him with it. I didn’t intend to stab him in the chest but accept this is what I did.
“I had no intention to kill Marc, I was acting in self-defence and used reasonable force in the circumstances. Marc is a six-foot plus man and a lot bigger and stronger than me. I was genuinely in fear for my safety and I did not know what he was capable of doing. I therefore deny the offence of murder as I was acting in self-defence.”
The trial
The trial of Rebecca Press began at Cardiff Crown Court on Monday, January 16. Among those to give evidence were her mother Michelle Press and her brother Gavin Press. Throughout his evidence, Mr Press appeared to be falling asleep in the witness box and was asked by the Recorder of Cardiff, Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke if he was intoxicated, which he denied.
He was reluctant to answer questions put to him by prosecutor Jonathan Rees KC, and previously told a police officer: "I don’t condone what she’s done but I’m not a grass.” An application was granted for Mr Rees to treat Mr Press as a "hostile witness". After falling asleep again during the middle of his evidence, Mr Press said: "It was my birthday yesterday and I went out for a few pints with the boys."
Mr Press was remanded in the cells and was seen by a paramedic who described him as "sleep deprived". A solicitor for Mr Press said his client had been having trouble sleeping due to the court proceedings, and had got "confused". Judge Lloyd-Clarke said she was satisfied Mr Press had failed to comply with his witness summons and remanded him in custody for the weekend. Mr Press concluded his evidence on the following Monday and was released.
After her brother had given evidence, Press dramatically changed her plea to guilty on the fifth day of the trial, admitting Mr Ash's murder. A charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in respect of the defendant's mother will lay on the court file.
The murderer was sentenced at the same court on Thursday, during which Judge Lloyd-Clarke said: "I have heard the victim personal statements. It’s clear you have caused the most terrible grief to Mr Ash’s family.” The judge said Press was not entitled to any credit for her guilty plea, as she had waited to see if her brother Gavin Press was able to give “crucial evidence” to the jury about the murder.
Press was sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 20 years. She was emotionless as the sentence was delivered and as she walked to the court cells.
Tributes were paid to Mr Ash by his parents and his daughter who made statements about the impact of his death. Mr Ash's parents said: "Since his death in such traumatic circumstances we have been devastated, to say we are missing him would be a great understatement. We have found normal everyday life very burdensome, feeling really isolated and unable to cope. Due in no small way to our grief as well as our age (80s) and disabilities.
“We miss Marc daily because; we cannot see his quirky smile; his loving and caring nature whilst helping us both when visits to the doctor, hospital, dentist, optician are necessary; we relied on him to assist with shopping. His help and kindness has been invaluable. We both feel that whatever happens during the court procedure nothing will bring our ray of sunshine back to his family. We are absolutely heartbroken and miss every hair on his head.”
Mr Ash's daughter said: "I love my father and I can’t believe he’s been so cruelly taken from my life. I hope to study law as a career and he will never see me go to university, graduate or start a family. He didn’t see my 18th birthday, pass my driving test or pass my exams which would have made him proud.
“All these opportunities I have been denied and will have to live with the fact that I no longer have a father for the rest of my life."
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