Colette Myers murderer James Campbell jailed for Lemington death

Colette Myers was capable of great joy and kindness, a judge said

A domestic abuser who murdered his partner on the day she had gone to visit her baby daughter's grave has been jailed for at least 18 years.

Colette Myers, 33, died from a brain injury at her home in Lemington, Newcastle, in April.

James Campbell, 33, had denied murder and claimed her injuries were probably caused by her walking into a ladder.

He was jailed for life with a minimum term after being found guilty of murder at Newcastle Crown Court.

The court heard the couple had been together for nine years and Ms Myers had previously expressed fears Campbell would kill her as he he had a history of attacking her, particularly when he was drunk.

Prosecutor Sharon Beattie KC said her death was a "classic case" of the "culmination of a relationship which had seen both aggression and violence".

James Campbell had denied murder but was found guilty after a nine-day trial

Campbell admitted he had attacked her in the past but denied doing so on the night she died.

On 19 April she had been to visit the grave of her baby daughter who had died at nine weeks old from cot death in 2007, and then gone to a friend's house.

At about 22:30 BST she returned to their home in Denwick Avenue in Lemington, the same house she had lived in since she was 14 with her father, who died in 2019.

Campbell, who had been drinking heavily during the day, said he was in bed and heard her bang into a ladder on the stairs which he argued could have caused her fatal injuries.

He said she got on to the bed and appeared drunk so he went to sleep, finding her dead when he awoke at about 07:00 on 20 April.

He went next door to rouse a neighbour who checked on Ms Myers and called police.

'Spur of the moment'

Prosecutors said messages showed she did not have her key so would have needed Campbell to let her in, a tuft of her hair and a bloody earring were found in the living room and it was clear her body had been dragged upstairs.

Campbell moved evidence such as her handbag and would change his story to suit new information uncovered by doctors and detectives, telling "a series of lies" as he sought to blame Ms Myers for her own death, the Honourable Mrs Justice Alison Foster said.

Pathologists told the court her brain injury would have caused almost instantaneous death and was akin to that seen by a pedestrian hit by a car, someone who had fallen from a building or a victim of assault.

She had grip marks on her upper arms and bruises on her forearms which suggested she had tried to defend herself, the court heard, as well as marks on her legs which could have been caused by a weapon such as a baseball bat or snooker cue.

In mitigation, Mark McKone KC said there had been "no intention to kill" or pre-meditation, and when "in drink" Campbell could lose his temper "on the spur of the moment".

He said the judge would have to determine whether the fatal brain haemorrhage was caused by a weapon or punch but emphasised expert evidence which said such an injury was "very often caused by a punch to the jaw area or close to the ear".

'Reprehensible behaviour'

The judge said she was sure he used a baseball bat to hit her during the "vicious" attack but it was not possible to say he had intended to kill her.

She said Ms Myers had had a "difficult life" with an unstable and chaotic childhood after the death of her mother, but she was capable of "great joy and laughter, kindness and generosity".

Mrs Justice Foster said there was a "picture of regular if not continuing violence and other reprehensible behaviour" shown by Campbell towards Ms Myers but she "refused to complain" because she loved him.

She said Campbell presented a different face publicly and Ms Myers' friends and neighbours were unaware of the full extent of the abuse.

Not all the abuse was physical, with Campbell having previously threatened to dig up the grave of Ms Myers' daughter, the judge said, telling the killer she did not believe his "protestations" of loving Ms Myers as "you can't be that horrible if you love somebody".

The judge said Campbell was "indifferent" to the abuse and violence he inflicted and was "directed exclusively towards his own wants and needs".