Woman, 32, convicted of stabbing mum, 31, to death in front of her child at birthday party
A WOMAN has been found guilty of brutally stabbing a mother to death at a London house party.
Hope Rowe, 33, attacked Charlotte Lawlor with a knife at a property in Stepney Green, east London, on September 15 last year.
5
5
Emergency services found Ms Lawlor in the foyer of the tower block just before 2am.
Charlotte Lawlor suffered multiple stab wounds at the hands of Rowe with some of the victim's friends and family witnessing the brutal attack.
Tragically, despite the best efforts of medical staff, Lawlor passed away from her injuries.
Inner London Crown Court heard that Rowe stabbed Lawlor following an argument and then fled the scene in a car with her partner, Leigh Holder, 37.
Armed cops caught up with the fleeing vehicle shortly after 2:10am and discovered only Leigh Holder inside.
He told cops that Rowe had jumped out of the car shortly after fleeing the crime scene and claimed he didn't know where she was.
The court heard that Rowe left a voicemail on Holder's phone as they drove away together, which recorded her telling him that it was 'good' she had killed Ms Lawlor, before Holder instructed her to dispose of the knife and to avoid the police.
The knife used to kill Lawlor has never been found despite the best efforts of police.
In the early morning the following day the court heard Rowe went to Bethnal Green Police Station where she was arrested on suspicion of murder.
She provided no comment during a police interview and later claimed her actions were due to a momentary loss of control.
On Friday, a jury at the London court found Rowe guilty of murder and Holder guilty of perverting the course of justice.
Rowe and her partner Holder will be sentenced at the court on July 9.
5
5
Det Sgt Dean Musgrove, from the Met Police's specialist crime north unit, said: 'Hope Rowe launched a brutal attack on Charlotte Lawlor at what should have been a joyous occasion.
'Our thoughts are with the victim's family and friends, who will have to contend not only with the loss of a loved one, but with the trauma of having witnessed the killing.
'As if the killing was not senseless enough, Rowe then tried to deceive investigators, disposing of the knife before turning herself in.
'It still has not been found to this day, and both Rowe and her partner were incriminated by a voicemail accidentally recorded on Rowe's phone.'
The victims parents said in a statement they were 'happy' with the verdict, adding: 'We would like to thank the jury for their attention during the trial.
'The family will never get over the loss and murder of Charlotte. It has destroyed us, leaving a gaping hole.
"Charlotte's son, Riley, has been left without a mum, and siblings without their older sister and best friend. Charlotte brought light to everyone's life.'
5
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
‘Earn up to £800 a day': job scammers using calls or texts to lure victims
Out of the blue you receive a call or a text offering you a job. It sounds great – it's remote working and you could earn up to £800 a day. If you're interested, you just need to contact the sender via the WhatsApp number provided. The job is pretty easy: you are asked to like and share content – usually on TikTok. 'After you've starting liking and sharing content you receive a small payment, which is fraudulent funds from other people involved in the scam,' says Annya Burskys, the head of fraud operations at Nationwide building society. 'Then you're told that you need to pay a sum to unlock higher earnings – you may be told it's for training. 'Some of that money is used to pay other victims, and some goes into the hands of the organised crime gang.' Burskys says the original messages are proving an attractive proposition to people – particularly students. 'We're starting to see an uptick, particularly in the 16-25 age group,' she says. 'Last year, we weren't seeing these daily. Now it's multiple cases a day, either of people who have sent money, or we're receiving reports from other banks who have customers who have sent money to customers' accounts.' In the latter cases, victims may have been persuaded to act as 'money mules' – allowing their accounts to be used by the scammers to process payments. As well as handing over money, or accounts, victims may also find that the bank and identity details they are asked for are used for other scams. Burskys says typical losses have been in the hundreds or thousands of pounds. 'It's not the highest value – the problem is the volume,' she says. 'It happens very quickly – from setup to speaking to realising you're a scam victim is days, whereas your typical investment scam plays out over months or years.' As universities and schools break up, and students start looking for summer work, they need to beware the scammers. Texts claim to be from a recruitment agency – sometimes using the name of a legitimate company – or from TikTok and say there is work available. Some mention your CV, as if you have sent it in. The texts say you can earn hundreds of pounds a day (the figure £800 seems to appear a lot), and ask you to get in touch via a WhatsApp number. The phone calls are similar. In one this week an automated voice claimed to be from the recruitment agency Indeed and said a job was available and if the recipient was interested they should get in touch via WhatsApp. The phone number seemingly belonged to a regular UK mobile. The first message asks you to register your interest in a job. The scammers will then tell you the job involves liking and sharing content – probably TikTok videos. You might be asked for your details when you sign up, or when it comes time to receive some pay. You may receive a first 'wage' but then you will be asked to pay for training, or similar, so you can unlock higher earnings. Beware of any unsolicited message claiming to offer work. This is not a typical way for a legitimate agency to approach people. The agency Indeed says: 'Indeed never contacts jobseekers directly by phone on behalf of employers using our platform to find and hire new employees.' Burskys says if you hear from a recruiter or company offering you a job you should 'use Companies House, use LinkedIn to research them'. Companies House will show you if a company is operating, who its directors are and where it is based. You can check this against any details you have been given. If you recognise the name of the recruitment company, go to its website and see whether the job is advertised on there. In the UK, forward scam texts to 7726. Many recruiters have tips on how to carry out your job search safely, such as these from Indeed.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Thief gets suspended jail term after year-long Banbury spree
A thief stole more than £3,700 worth of items ranging from alcohol, fake grass and cat treats in a nearly year-long shoplifting spree around an Oxfordshire Gilbert, 37, admitted stealing items from eight shops across Banbury 57 times between May last year and this from Mollington, near Banbury, took products from the town's TK Maxx, Co-Op, Boots, Tesco Express, B&M Bargains, The Range, Home Bargains and Poundland was given a given a four-month jail term, suspended for two years, by Oxford magistrates. Items he stole ranged from food and other domestic products from the Co-Op, which he stole from 21 times, to gift sets from Boots worth hundreds of pounds. He took items from the health and beauty retailer's stores nine his sentencing on 6 June, magistrates told Gilbert that his offending was so serious that only a custodial sentence was must also undergo a drug rehabilitation course, which will be reviewed in October. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
'Floodgates' opened on Long Lartin prison drones
A former prison officer at a high-security jail where a member of staff was recently stabbed by an inmate, has said the "floodgates" have been opened on the use of drones to smuggle in weapons and drugs. A 25-year-old prison officer was stabbed at Long Martin on 30 May and had to undergo emergency surgery. At the time, a source told the BBC the knife used was "not a prison-made weapon".A former officer at Long Lartin, who we are calling Adam, said the problem had got worse in recent years, with drones coming in "left, right, and centre".In response, the government said it had "inherited a prison system in crisis - overcrowded, with drugs and violence rife", but was addressing the problems. "We are gripping the situation and clamping down on illicit items through X-ray body scanners and restricted fly zones for drones, " a Ministry of Justice spokesperson said the extent of drone use had initially come as a surprise."We knew it could happen in city prisons without high funding, like Hewell and Birmingham, but not in high-security prisons," he said. "But the floodgates have opened.""We used to smell a bit of weed at night time - you'd identify the cell and put that person in for a drug test."But it got so bad, you could be walking up the corridors to the wings and it could stink of weed." The former prison officer said inmates would make their own weapons "out of anything", including melting down razor blades or sharpening tooth he said these makeshift weapons were not as dangerous as the knives that were being flown in.A spokesperson for the Prison Officers' Association (POA) told the BBC it had warned governments for some time "about the dangers posed by the use of drones to deliver contraband such as drugs, mobile phones, weapons into jails". "This is unquestionably increasing the risks to staff, and destabilising prisons," they added."Without action, it is only a matter of time until a firearm is delivered to a prison by drone." In a 2023 report by HM Inspectorate of Prisons, after an unannounced visit of Long Lartin in December 2022, an inspector said: "The prison had good defences against the ingress of drugs through drones or throwovers."However, by January 2025, the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Charlie Taylor, called for "urgent action" to tackle drones at HMP Long Lartin and HMP Manchester following inspections in September and October 2025 Long Lartin report said: The risks are clear for a jail that has, in effect, ceded the airspace above it to serious organised crime." Fifty per cent of Long Lartin inmates who responded to a survey by the inspectorate also said it was easy to get drugs and alcohol, which the report said "was an astonishing rate for a Category A prison". Attacks on staff The 25-year-old prison officer who was attacked in May is now recovering at home after having emergency surgery, according to a social media post made by his who knows the victim, told the BBC: "He's a good kid - keen and enthusiastic. He's not an idiot, he's not mean and nasty."However, the attack on him is not an isolated incident.A Freedom of Information (FOI) request sent by the BBC to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) revealed Long Lartin had 35 incidents over the past five years in which officers missed at least a week of work either following a physical assault or through an injury sustained while restraining an inmate. In 2022 alone, 13 incidents had to be reported by the prison to the HSE. This included an officer suffering burns after a prisoner threw boiling water over them, while another received an inch-deep puncture wound to the neck after visiting a prisoner's another case, an officer was "choked out of consciousness" by a prisoner after responding to an emergency one occasion, Adam said a senior governor had her jaw broken by an attacks took place in 2024, including an officer being knocked out after being punched in the head and kicked by a prisoner while supervising his move to a mentioned a number of factors to the BBC that he believed were making the environment more dangerous to said a full lockdown search of the jail had not been performed since the Covid pandemic, and that inmates could hide weapons in places guards would be unable to find during basic checks due to screwdrivers being flown into the prison - making it easier to hide contraband in furniture. Adam also claimed there were no thorough searches conducted after drones would be seen over the attacks did happen, Adam said there were rarely significant said staff had "very little faith" in the official adjudication process, intended to deal with such incidents involving inmates. 'The job's not worth it' Adam said the situation at Long Lartin had got "worse and worse" over the years, with staff not feeling safe at told the BBC that one governor even said "prisons aren't a place where you're supposed to feel safe" and that they would be surprised if staff at work felt safe. This response was made in reply to concerns about proposals to have just one uniformed officer in workshops with inmates, led by civilians."More and more experienced staff are saying the job's not worth it," Adam MOJ told the BBC: "We take the safety and wellbeing of staff extremely seriously."To further protect our hardworking staff, front-line prison officers working in the highest risk areas will be given protective body armour to keep them safe from harm."They also said the prison service was working with police to deter illegal drone use around prisons, and that they were investing targeted countermeasures such as improvements to windows, netting and grilles, to stop drones from successfully delivering cargo such as drugs and weapons. Follow BBC Hereford & Worcester on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
