A West Country woman with a personality disorder has been jailed for 10 years for stabbing to death her partner in a 'sudden and unexpected' assault over Christmas.
Tanya Hoskin, 52, plunged a kitchen knife into Nigel Johnston while the pair were shielding together on December 27, 2020, reports Devon Live.
She snapped as a result of a build-up of frustration at their life together and after the couple had spent the day drinking together at their home in Exmouth.
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Mr Johnston, 54, collapsed in the kitchen and died of a single deep wound despite the best efforts of paramedics to save his life. His final words to her were 'Oh no, I'm bleeding', 'I'll be all right' and 'I don't blame you'.
The former cafe and holiday park worker stood trial for murder at Exeter Crown Court. The jury found her not guilty but guilty of manslaughter. She was sentenced on Tuesday. In a note read to the court, Hoskin apologised, saying: "He was my soulmate. I'm sorry I put my friends and family alike through such pain."
Mr Justice Linden said it was not a case where Hoskin had overreacted to a threat of violence by Mr Johnston.
"It's a case where you were drunk and angry and the frustration to Mr Johnston which had built up for many months led you to stab him when you could easily have walked away." he said. "To use the knife in the way you did was wholly unwarranted and grossly disproportionate."
The judge said the evidence showed the attack had been 'sudden and unexpected'. The background to the case involved a long, volatile, on-off relationship between the couple.
They had known one another since 1987, were married in 1989 and had two children. The relationship ended in the early 1990s but they got back together in 2014 after Mr Johnston’s second marriage ended. He suffered from multiple health problems and Hoskin was his paid carer.
Much of the trial focused on the character and mental health of the defendant and whether Mr Johnston was violent to his partner and posed a threat to her at the time he was killed. Hoskin said she was a victim of domestic violence.
Neighbours told the trial they would hear rows between the pair. The prosecution said Hoskin was aggressive and would hurl insults at Mr Johnston, saying he was ‘f***ing useless’. Another said Hoskin was kind-hearted and would do anything for anybody.
A friend of the couple said Mr Johnston could be ‘silly’ when he was drunk but was a 'placid' man.
On December 27 the pair shared a bottle of wine at home. Just before 6pm they went to McColl's and bought a bottle of pink gin. Hoskin said she had one gin and coke and had started another but was not very drunk.
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The couple dragged a mattress downstairs and planned to watch films on the TV. The jury was played a voice recording made by Hoskin between 8.30pm and 8.46pm in which the pair had a drunken, rambling argument.
Hoskin asked Mr Johnston if he would protect her if there was a ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ and said she would leave with the first zombie that asked her to. She could be heard slapping drunken Mr Johnston and goading him about ‘not being man enough’.
She also asked him why he sometimes grabbed her around the throat and put her in a ‘sleeper hold’. Shortly before the stabbing Hoskin sent a message to her sister in Exeter saying Nigel was 'getting on my last nerve' saying he was 'freaking out' and ‘my brain is hurting'.
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Just before 9pm she had a 10-minute voice conversation with her sister, Candy Hutchings, in which she complained again about Mr Johnston’s irritating behaviour. She said he was trying to bite her and it was not funny. Ms Hutchings said she thought Mr Johnston was just clowning around.
"She was shouting and hysterical but he wasn't,” said Ms Hutchings. "Then I heard a clinking of metal." She thought it was a knife. "It sounded like it was being knocked against the edge of something," she added.
She then heard Nigel say: 'Oh no, I'm bleeding'. He was really calm," said Mrs Hutchings. There was astonishment in his voice"
She could then hear Hoskin repeatedly saying sorry to Mr Johnston and getting hysterical. Mrs Hutchings put the phone down and called 999. Paramedics arrived quickly but could not save Mr Johnston who suffered massive internal bleeding.
A post-mortem revealed the knife had entered just above his left nipple and penetrated to a depth of between 20-23cm. The blade took a steep downward path into the left kidney via the portal vein. This caused substantial blood loss.
"His life could not have been saved," said a Home Office pathologist. Hoskin ran to a neighbour’s house for help. She returned to try and revive Mr Johnston.
She was heard to say: "Don't leave me, I love you. You've got the children. It will be okay."
When police arrived a short time later she told them: “I stabbed him. He was going for me. He attacked me first. I attacked him back, there you go.”
Hoskin was taken into custody where she was verbally and physically abusive to officers, calling one a ‘bitch’ and threatening to rip her eyes out and kicking another in the testicles. She admitted four charges of assaulting police in the execution of their duty. Mr Johston was pronounced dead at 9.50pm.
The prosecution alleged Hoskin had a history of unpredictable rages and verbally abused Mr Johnston. It was claimed she lost her temper during a drunken flash of anger. Hoskin said she has amnesia and did not know why she had stabbed him.
The last thing she could remember was lighting a cigarette for herself and Nigel as they sat in the kitchen. "I don't remember doing it but apparently I did," she told the trial.
Hoskin initially told police Mr Johnston was never violent. She said she felt ‘slightly downtrodden’ and had previously considered walking out of the relationship. But during the trial she claimed she was a victim of domestic abuse. Hoskin said Mr Johnston would sometimes approach her from behind and put her in a 'sleeper hold' until she stopped breathing or would fall unconscious.
Hoskin denied murder. She claimed she must have been acting in self-defence or it was an accident. Forensic psychiatrist Dr Bradley Hillier assessed Hoskin’s mental health.
He said she suffered from Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) and Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (EUPD). Hoskin's memory blackout, he said, could be explained by her unconscious mind repressing the trauma of the killing.
A person with these conditions constantly experiences a heightened state of being under threat. They can be harmful to themselves and others due to ‘hypervigilance’ and a ‘startled response’.
Hoskin said this caused her to ‘fight or flight’ when threatened. She said she had ‘two personalities’ and her aggressive side ‘would take on the world’ if threatened.
Asked how she now felt about Mr Johnston’s death, she said: "Pretty cut up. I don't really have any emotions. I don't even see Nigel as being dead. I still think of him as being alive."
Hoskin said the root cause was mental trauma caused by a traumatic childhood. She had also been in a violent relationship before getting back together with Mr Johnston.
Mr Michael Turner QC, in mitigation, said the evidence heard at trial showed Mr Johnston had been physically abusive to Hoskin during the relationship and she may have reacted because of violence shown in the past.
He said it was impossible to know exactly what triggered the stabbing but 'something must have happened' and Mr Johnston was trying to bite her at the time.
Hoskin cradled Mr Johnston as his life slipped away saying she was sorry for what she had done. Mr Turner said she had written a note which said she knew she had lost her family, home and dogs due to her actions.
"He was my soulmate. I'm sorry I put my friends and family alike through such pain."
Mr Justice Linden said: "I do not accept self-defence or mental disorders significantly reduce you responsibility for what happened."
"I'm sure Mr Johnston had no opportunity at all to defend himself or was incapable of doing so."
The judge said it was clear Mr Johnston did not do anything that came close to Hoskln being able to justify stabbing him and she was more than capable of repelling any movement from him.
"This is not a case where you were driven to the edge by the abusive behaviour of Mr Johnston, rather you were frustrated with him and your circumstancs more generally."
"I accept there was no pre-planning," he added. "You picked up the knife and acted in the moment. You regretted your actions as soon as it was apparent the enormity or what you had done and were anxious to do what you could to save Mr Johnston's life."
