King's Lynn murder: Life term for woman who stabbed victim 16 times

Birute Klicneliene, 51, will serve a minimum of 18 years in prison

A woman who carried out a "sustained and brutal attack" on a woman she had just met, stabbing her 16 times, has received a life sentence for murder.

Dace Kalkerte, 50, also suffered nine other wounds in the killing at her flat in Highgate, King's Lynn, Norfolk.

Birute Klicneliene, 51, from Sir Lewis Street in King's Lynn, was ordered to serve a minimum of 18 years in prison by Norwich Crown Court.

Police said they might never know why she launched the attack.

The murder happened on 16 April last year after the two women and their partners had been drinking at an allotment in the town, Norfolk Police said.

The women later returned to the Highgate flat.

A post-mortem examination established Dace Kalkerte died from a stab wound to her stomach

Klicneliene told police in an interview that she had fallen asleep and Ms Kalkerte was lying on the floor when she woke up.

She said she had assumed the victim was drunk, and it was only when she picked her up she realised Ms Kalkerte was losing blood.

She blamed the murder on an unidentified man.

A trial last November was told police completed extensive inquiries and there was no evidence to suggest another person had been in the flat at the time of the murder.

The defendant and victim were seen on CCTV walking together on the evening of 15 April 2022 before the murder

Police said there was no evidence of blood from the top of the stairway to the communal front door, which suggested nobody had left the scene of the crime, and there was no sign of forced entry to Ms Kalkerte's flat.

A knife containing traces of Ms Kalkerte's blood on the blade and Klicneliene's DNA on the handle was also recovered from the scene.

Klicneliene was unanimously convicted of murder by a jury.

After Friday's sentencing, Det Ch Insp Chris Burgess, of Norfolk Police, said incidents like this were rare in Norfolk.

"Klicneliene used a knife to murder Dace - a woman she had met only a few hours earlier and who had invited her into her home - in a sustained and brutal attack.

"She has always denied murdering Dace and we may never know why she inflicted such deliberate and directed violence, but it has no place in our society."