Woman who stabbed father-of-six on Christmas Day jailed for life

ITV News

5 days ago

Police bodycam shows the moment Carless was arrested by police
A woman who stabbed her ex-boyfriend on Christmas Day in the heart last year has been jailed.
The court had previously heard that Kirsty Carless, 33, was "fuelled by cocaine and alcohol" when she took a taxi from her home in Cannock, Staffordshire to her ex-partner's home in Norton Canes in the early hours of December 25 last year.
Carless, 33, took a knife in a taxi to confront Louis Price, 31, after seeing his profile on a dating app, Stafford Crown Court heard.
The attack was 'motivated by anger and jealousy and fuelled by cocaine and alcohol', the jury heard.
She was convicted unanimously of murder and possessing an offensive weapon in a public place.
Carless was also found guilty by majority of assault occasioning actual bodily harm over a previous incident, but cleared of intentional strangulation.
She was cleared of intentional strangulation in relation to the same incident.
The trial was told Carless, of Haling Way in Cannock, Staffordshire, had been at the pub drinking double vodka and cokes with a male friend on December 24.
While there, she plunged a kitchen knife she had taken from her home into Price's chest.
The taxi driver reported that around 30 seconds after Carless let herself into the property with a key, he heard a 'very loud and prolonged' scream from a man and that he 'sounded scared'.
Less than two minutes after arriving at the scene, Carless was 'anxious and sweating' as she got back into the taxi and demanded the driver take her to her parents' home, where she admitted what she had done and 999 was called.
At the time of the stabbing, Carless was known to police. She had been on police bail after allegedly strangling Louis Price the previous year. A charge which she had denied.
On that occasion, Mr Price phoned 999 to say Carless had poured bleach over tracksuits worth £400 after she put them in the bin, had thrown a glass candle holder at him, pulled him down the stairs and choked him.
He was seen crying on police body-worn video footage, telling the officer: 'It's f****** embarrassing… it can't keep happening, man.
In a witness statement after the incident, he said the relationship, which started in 2021, had been 'on the whole, abusive', that she had stopped him doing things he liked, such as playing football and had physically abused him.
Police confirmed that a referral was made to the IOPC following recent contact.
In her evidence to the trial, Carless said she had no recollection of stabbing him, was 'not a violent person' and had only gone to Mr Price's address as she believed he had taken money from inside a card she had in her home.
She said she picked up a knife with the intent to destroy the caravan he was staying in in his parents' back garden and had 'panicked' after Mr Price was stabbed and fled.
Narmina Rafiq of the Crown Prosecution Service said: 'This was a truly awful case that shows just how severe and calculated domestic violence can be.
"Kirsty Carless did not have a sudden outburst, instead this was a deliberate and premeditated killing, following a series of events that began with jealousy over Louis Price's use of dating apps and ended in murder.
'The Crown Prosecution Service built a compelling case using DNA evidence, CCTV footage, witness testimony, forensic tests and pathological evidence that not only proved Kirsty Carless intended to kill Mr Price but showed exactly how it happened, leaving the jury certain of her guilt.
'Her unbelievably cruel and heartless actions have robbed six children of their father and his parents of their beloved son. We hope today's outcome brings them some comfort. Our condolences remain with Mr Price's family.'