She murdered the man she claimed to love before telling lie after lie

North Wales Live

19-05-2025

The family of a "gentle giant" who was stabbed to death have spoken of their devastation after his killer was jailed for life. Joanna Wronska, 51, stabbed her partner Marcin Koziol to death in a drunken "explosion" of anger on October 24, 2024.
Today [Monday] she was jailed for life, and will have to serve a minimum term of 15 years and 137 days imprisonment for the brutal killing in their flat in Pentre Gwyn, Wrexham. Mold Crown Court heard both had been drinking when she had fetched a kitchen knife and plunged it into Mr Koziol's chest.
She then somewhat "came to her senses" by washing the weapon in a sink and ringing 999. She then had the gall to blamed Mr Koziol for inflicting the fatal wound on himself. You can sign up for all the latest court stories here
But the jury last month rejected that account - which a judge today branded "distasteful" - and found her unanimously guilty of murdering the 40-year-old. In a statement at the sentencing hearing today, Mr Koziol's sister Anna Zawada, who lives in Poland, spoke about her brother.
She said he was 18 years younger than her and she treated him like a son. He had been a 'cheerful, sensitive, empathetic and loving child'.
As he grew up he would always remember birthdays and buy gifts. After leaving school in Poland it hadn't been easy to find work so he moved to the UK in 2004.
He got a job and worked hard and diligently, sending back money to their mum in Poland. He was over six foot tall and 'my little brother was not so little anymore," she said.
After his murder in October 2023 she realised there would be no more hugs. Anna said Christmas 2023 was the worst.
Her devoutly Roman Catholic family sat in silence at the table during what should have been festive celebrations. Marcin's funeral was in the UK but Anna had his name engraved on the gravestone of the middle brother in Poland, which she visits every week.
Anna herself developed depression, high blood pressure and insomnia after Marcin's death Also today Marcin's widow Marta, who kept in touch with Marcin during his relationship with Joanna Wronska, read her own statement about the effects of the murder.
She said she had been "distraught" and "devastated" to learn in a phone call her husband had died. She posted "Rest in peace" on his Facebook page as "I did not know what (else) to do".
As a spouse she was allowed to go to see his body but not to touch it. It was a "horrible, surreal experience," she said. As his widow, she could access his bank account to help arrange his funeral which she never expected to do.
Marta had had to bury her baby six months earlier. She had kept in contact with Marcin and found the court case stressful. "He was truly a gentle giant and would never hurt anyone. I can't understand why Marcin has been taken away from me."
The judge His Honour Rhys Rowlands told Wronska the murder involved an "explosive, drunken loss of temper on your part in which you stabbed the victim through the chest with a kitchen knife". He added: "Thereafter you washed the knife and having to some extent come to your senses, no doubt regretting what you had just done, you rang the emergency services and remained at the flat until they arrived."
But he said she has a drink problem and "can become aggressive and difficult in drink". Earlier, defence counsel Andrew Ford KC said the relationship between Wronska and Mr Koziol "could be good and was often good".
Earlier in the case, the court had heard about the killer's earlier life. Wronska, a diminutive and slight figure with dark, shoulder length hair in the dock, already had two (now adult) children when she met a previous partner Januse Zdunek in Pajezcno in central Poland.
Wronska and Mr Dzunek travelled some 1,120 miles (1,800km) from Central Poland to live in Wrexham in 2013. There they had two children together, who were later taken into care by social services.
But Wronska, who was ten years his senior, became dependent on alcohol and took drugs. She alleged Mr Zdunek was abusive.
Their children, now aged ten and eight, were placed in foster care and they split in 2021, the court heard. Tellingly, Mr Zdunek said in a statement that Wronska threatened to kill him with a knife several times.
The prosecution described how he said he suddenly felt a sharp pain between his shoulder blades in one incident in July 2021. When Mr Zdunek turned he says he saw Wronska holding a knife.
He claimed she said "You're lucky I didn't stab you in the heart". The jury had to decide if this claim was true and whether she stabbed her subsequent partner too, said the prosecution.
The court was told during the trial that Marcin Koziol was born in Zabrza in Poland and had been living in the UK since 1982, initially on Merseyside. He was married to Marta Koziol but they had separated some years before.
Mr Koziol had had a serious accident in the 2000s. He was crushed by a bale of waste at a recycling plant. He sustained multiple fractures and had surgery.
He had spent all his compensation by 2018 on travel, clothes and alcohol. By 2019 Mr Koziol settled in Wrexham. He had mental health issues and was temporarily homeless. He met Wronska in 2022.
In September that year he moved into her flat in Pentre Gwyn on Abenbury Road. Mold Crown Court heard their relationship descended into drinking and shoplifting and both were barred from their local convenience store.
One night in October 2023 Wronska, who was drunk, lost her temper and stabbed her partner, who weighed almost 18 stone. On the day of the verdict on April 14 Judge Rowlands said: "You have been found guilty by a jury of the offence of murder in which you took away a man's life cruelly and entirely unnecessarily."
He added: "I have no doubt that drink is at the root of your problems and it was in a drunken temper that you took a knife to the deceased that evening."
After the verdict, the defendant said from the dock: "I'm going to kill myself." She then leaned forward saying she wanted to speak to her solicitor but the judge said she could do that after being taken down to the cells.
Speaking following sentencing today, Detective Chief Inspector Eleri Thomas said: 'Joanna Wronska senselessly and needlessly ended Marcin Koziol's life – her partner who she claimed she loved deeply.
'It was a cruel and violent attack on a man who had sought support from her. Wronska then went to great lengths to conceal her crime and deceive the police by claiming Marcin had killed himself, causing untold trauma to his family, some of whom had to endure the ordeal of giving evidence, and then forced to listen to her lies throughout the trial.
'The thorough and diligent work carried out by the investigation team helped the jury see through her lies and secure justice for Marcin's loved ones. I would thank everyone who came forward to assist with the investigation, including the first responders who tried to save his life.
'We will never know what drove Wronska to end Marcin's life, but I hope her conviction and today's result brings some small measure of respite to his family.'