Former soldier jailed for partner's stab murder

Stephen Lawton was jailed for more than 16 years at Bradford Crown Court

A former soldier has been jailed for more than 16 years after being found guilty of murdering his partner.

A trial jury had previously heard that Stephen Lawton, 45, stabbed Michelle Egge-Bailey in the neck at their flat in Airedale Avenue, Cottingley, Bradford, earlier this year.

Bradford Crown Court was told how Lawton had "lost control" and attacked the 54-year-old on 11 March after they had both been drinking.

Sentencing Lawton to a minimum term of 16 years and 158 days at the same court on Monday, Judge Jonathan Rose described his actions as a "brutal killing of a defenceless and vulnerable woman".

Lawton's trial had heard that he suffered from PTSD and depression after tours in Northern Ireland, Iraq and Afghanistan.

He had claimed that before the fatal attack, Ms Egge-Bailey had made insulting remarks towards him after she had drunk bottles of prosecco while he drank cans of lager.

Michelle Egge-Bailey's family said her killer's conviction did not bring them closure

According to prosecutor Geraldine Kelly KC, Ms Egge-Bailey had previously complained she was a victim of domestic abuse at the hands of Lawton, who was working for the Canal & Rivers Trust charity at the time of the murder.

"It is the prosecution's case that this was an act of revenge", she added.

The court also heard that Ms Egge-Bailey had called the police to report Lawton for drink-driving in the days before her murder.

Before Lawton was sentenced, Ms Kelly told Judge Rose that Ms Egge-Bailey's family was "shocked and devastated" by her death and that the trial had been "traumatic" for them.

Mitigating for Lawton, Frida Hussain KC said Ms Egge-Bailey had been verbally abusive towards Lawton, mocking him for bedwetting as a result of his PTSD, as well as the deaths of members of his family.

However, Judge Rose did not accept this, saying Ms Egge-Bailey's frustrations were because Lawton did not change the sheets after such an incident.

'Volatile relationship'

Judge Rose told the court that Ms Egge-Bailey "was loved greatly by her family, and her death has inevitably had a great affect on them".

He described the pair's relationship as "volatile, perhaps even toxic", adding that Ms Egge-Bailey made several complaints to the police about Lawton, but never pressed charges against him.

Judge Rose said that if she had pressed charges, perhaps "things would have turned out differently".

When she was murdered, Ms Egge-Bailey had been asleep due to a "high degree of intoxication for the average social drinker", more than three times the legal limit for driving, the judge said.

"In short, she was defenceless and vulnerable," Judge Rose said, adding that "she would have fought back" if she had not been asleep.

The judge rejected Lawton's defence that Ms Egge-Bailey had been "shouting abuse" at him before he stabbed her, and that the knife was already in the bedroom.

Judge Rose told Lawton: "I am sure you took the knife from the kitchen drawer to the bedroom for the purpose of killing her.

"I am sure you did intend to kill her as you stabbed her multiple times."

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