Man battered ex-wife over Facebook taunts

Adam Mann and his ex-wife divorced in 2007

A man has been convicted of murdering his ex-wife after she taunted him on Facebook about paying child support.

Adam Mann used a hammer to batter Lisa Beverley, 30, before slashing her neck with a knife, the Old Bailey was told.

Jurors heard she had been online at her home in Plumstead, south London, on 15 September but the session came to an abrupt end at 2200 BST.

Mann, 29, of Springfield Road, Welling, Kent, was found guilty of murder and is due to be sentenced on 4 October.

Bitter dispute

During the trial the court was told Miss Beverley, of Coupland Place, had no chance of surviving after being hit on the face, head, neck and body.

Jeremy Donne QC, prosecuting, said Miss Beverley's five-year-old son was confronted with a scene of "unimaginable horror" when he found her the next day.

Mr Donne said the boy found his mother in a pool of her own blood on the floor of her living room.

"She had been savagely beaten and stabbed to death," Mr Donne said.

The court heard the couple divorced in 2007 and were involved in a bitter dispute.

Miss Beverley was trying to get Mann to contribute towards raising their son, through the Child Support Agency (CSA).

She told the CSA he had lied about being unemployed and he had subsequently been sent a letter demanding payments of about £400.

The day before her death, Miss Beverley's Facebook profile was updated to say: "Now whose laughing? U've got done big time by the CS, so now leave us alone for good, your son hates u and so do I."

Hours before the victim's death, Mann telephoned the CSA saying he had no money and would not pay, said Mr Donne.

Jurors are still considering an allegation that Mann's new partner, Elizabeth Kilgallon, 27, perverted justice by giving him a false alibi.