Mum who said 'just put me away now' upon arrest on suspicion of murder is jailed

Daily Record

7 days ago

Gillian Shaw confessed to "trying to gouge" her terminally-ill partner's "eyes out".
A mum has now been jailed after she told police "you should just put me away now" upon being arrested on suspicion of murdering her terminally-ill partner.
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On New Year's Eve last year, Steven Cox died aged 63 following an assault at the hands of his long term girlfriend and carer Gillian Shaw.
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The 62-year-old confessed that she had "tried to gouge his eyes out" during the incident, which led to his death in the early hours of New Year's Day, reports Liverpool Echo. It came after she had dreamt that her victim "was going to go back to his ex wife", having also developed the paranoid belief that he "loved cigarettes more than her".
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Liverpool Crown Court heard today, Monday, that the couple had been together for 37 years and had a "good relationship until recently", when Shaw had "started to assault" Mr Cox. One such incident led to the defendant calling Merseyside Police to their home on Rothwell Street in Everton shortly after 4pm on December 31 2024.
Gordon Cole KC, prosecuting, described how Shaw reported at this time that she had "hit her partner and tried to gouge his eyes out", later telling officers at the scene that she had "struck him to the head because she said she thought he had hidden her bank card". Having initially been detained on suspicion of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent, she was further arrested for murder at 9.57am on January 1 2025 following Mr Cox's death and replied: "You should just put me away now."
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Prior to his passing, he had detailed to PCs who attended his home how Shaw had "hit him 2 or 3 times to the face, kicked him once to the chest and attempted to gouge his eyes out". He meanwhile recalled that his partner had "called him a b****rd" and accused him of "wanting out of their relationship" as he had been attempting to "get it on with other family members, including her best friend".
Having been taken to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital by ambulance, Mr Cox was found to have sustained three fractured ribs, as well as "clear facial injuries", and was suffering from breathing difficulties. While he told medics that his relationship with Shaw was "good", he was also said to have been "concerned for her mental health".
He went on to detail how they began arguing in the living room at around midday before she stood on his foot, struck him to the head and pulled him to the floor. The attack was then said to have continued as he lay on the ground, where she "dug her nails into his face" and kicked him to the chest.
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Mr Cox, who suffered from "very significant" medical conditions including COPD, thereafter became unresponsive in the early hours, being pronounced dead at 4.31am. A post-mortem investigation found injuries "indicative of blows to the face", bruising "consistent with a dragging type actions" and rib fractures "consistent with blunt force trauma".
The pathologist ultimately gave a cause of death of severe pulmonary emphysema and heart disease with blunt force chest injuries. Under interview, Shaw told detectives that she "had dreamt Mr Cox was going to go back to his ex wife" and "admitted slapping his face, stamping on his foot and gouging his eyes", adding that she had "phoned the police because she thought he might die".
Anne Whyte KC, defending, told the court: "It is quite clear from the facts and the history given by her own children that this woman struggled to cope with the terminal diagnosis of her partner. Their lives, notwithstanding the use of cannabis and the fractured relationship with their children, who disapproved of their lifestyle, speak of a stability and a good relationship.
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"Ms Shaw had, in fact, intended to take her own life when Mr Cox died, and continued to feel suicidal until relatively recently. She was the primary carer for Mr Cox. It is quite clear from the evidence of her children that she had become socially isolated and she was neglecting herself.
"The physical acts of which she is accused are broadly accepted. She accepts standing on Mr Cox's toe. She accepts scratching at his eyes and striking him in some way to the head. Her memory about kicking has been inconsistent at times."
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Ms Whyte submitted that the level of force used during the incident would have otherwise resulted in a conviction for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, adding: "This defendant, in the state that she was in, in her own self neglect and with her cognitive abilities, would not in a month of Sundays have known that hitting her partner round the head as she did, and kicking him in some way, would carry a high risk of death. At the time of his sad demise, he was mobile. She was tiny.
"This woman had her own complex mental health disorders. She was actually sectioned in 2023 for three months, something which she does not actually remember now. These events took place when she was severely irritable, paranoid and emotionally dysregulated.
"Having been in crisis and been encouraged to seek help by her daughter two days beforehand, she was immediately referred by her GP for an assessment. She was due to undertake this assessment on the afternoon that these events occurred.
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"That derangement of thought, that her partner was having an affair and that her daughter was taking her bank card, was so off the scale in terms of paranoia that it is pretty clear that was was ill. Her thinking was not rational, something that she struggles to understand now.
"The 37 years is the real testament to this relationship, which only started to decline when this relationship was bound to come to an end due to natural disease."
Shaw pleaded guilty to manslaughter during a previous hearing, with a charge of murder having been dropped by the prosecution. Appearing in the dock wearing a navy top and sporting glasses and long brown hair, she waved to family members in the public gallery as she was led to the cells after being jailed for five years.
Sentencing, Judge Denis Watson KC said "It has been pointed out that you have no previous convictions, but I cannot ignore that there are in existence crime reports of assaults by you, covering events between September 2019 and December 2024. There had even been a callout a day or two beforehand. In all of those previous episodes, Steven Cox had never wished to make a formal complaint to the police.
"There was a history of violence. It was apparently that this violence occurred over a relatively protracted period of time. I take into account that, until about 2019, you had led a blameless life. I am entirely satisfied that there is remorse. There was a lack of premeditation."