Man killed mother of child over support payments

Mark Morris attacked Emma Day after they argued about childcare payments, the CPS said

A man who stabbed the mother of his child in the heart after they argued about childcare payments has admitted murdering her.

Mark Morris, 39, admitting killing Emma Day with a kitchen knife near her south London home on 25 May.

He apologised to his daughter before attacking the 33-year-old hospital worker as she walked home from school.

Morris, from Croydon, previously admitted manslaughter on the basis of "loss of control" at the Old Bailey.

The pair had been in an eight-year relationship which ended in 2016, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

They shared a daughter and had argued about child maintenance payments Ms Day had requested from Morris, prosecutors added.

'Drunk and dirty'

Morris told the Old Bailey his "mind was in turmoil" before he attacked the mother of two.

The court heard Morris had lay in wait for Ms Day with a knife outside the gates of his child's school in west Norwood.

Before the killing, he had researched ways online to kill himself, said goodbye to his work colleagues and told his daughter she would not see him again.

Morris appeared looking "drunk and dirty" as Ms Day walked over with her friend and the children.

During an argument between Morris and Ms Day he told his daughter "I'm really sorry" before the children were sent away, the court heard.

Morris was considering suicide before he attacked his ex-partner, the court heard

Judge Nicholas Hilliard QC adjourned the case until 30 November but warned Morris he faced a life sentence.

Prosecutor Sarah Whitehouse QC said the Crown accepted Morris had "mixed feelings" but not that he had forgotten he had a knife with him.

She said: "When he left his house that very morning he had been searching on websites for means to commit suicide.

"That is why it does not seem unreasonable that he may have had 'mixed feelings' as he set out, but one of his intentions was to kill."