November 6 Ernest
Davenport was sentenced to six years in prison for manslaughter by Liverpool
Crown Court. The 65-year-old reportedly flew into rage after Susan, 63, claimed
son Mark was not his, stabbing her twice in the chest. He then rang 999 and
told an operator said: ”I think I’ve killed my wife.”
Liverpool Crown Court heard
hhow the couple’s other son Michael stumbled upon the gruesome scene after
turning up for his regular weekly visit to see his father in Bury, Greater
Manchester. As he tended to his mother, Davenport told him:
”We had a barney.”
The victim suffered two stab
wounds to her chest, one which had severed two major arteries and was
pronounced dead at the scene.
The couple, who were married
for more than 40 years and had three children, were described as “hard working,
law abiding people”. But Mrs Davenport left her husband in 2011 and set home
with another man in Chorley, Lancs.
The tragedy occurred on April
14, after Mrs Davenport arrived at the property to get her husband to sign
papers relating to the sale of the house and they began arguing about money. A
short time later, her ex husband made the 999 call saying:
“I have had a fight with my
wife and I think I’ve killed her.”
The operator replied:
“How have you done this?”, to
which Davenport responded:
“We, we had a barney and
started arguing and it’s come to a… you know.”
Prosecuting, Alaric Bassano
QC said:
“In this telephone call, the
defendant declared that he had had an argument with his ex-wife at his house,
that he had used a ‘long knife’ against her, that she was on the settee in the
living room and he believed she was dead.
“He explained that the knife
was now in the kitchen of his house and that he himself was also injured. The
defendant was downstairs at his property when he was talking during this call
but he abandoned the call just as his son Michael Davenport was arriving at the
house. Michael attended his father’s house every Tuesday after work and on the
day in question had let himself into the property, with his father upstairs at
the time. He suffered the harrowing experience of finding his motionless and
fatally injured mother on the settee in the living room. He picked up the telephone
and was surprised to hear the police operator on the line. During the 999 call
Michael Davenport can be heard asking his father what has happened. The
defendant can be heard replying ‘we had a barney
In court Davenport claimed
his ex-wife had repeatedly taunted him saying her new partner was “a lot better
man than you”. She also told him:
“You aren’t half the man you
think you are” and when he asked what she meant, he claimed she said that their
son, Mark, now aged 38, was not his son.
He said:
“I was in a rage. We were
arguing and shouting. I was just in shock and I didn’t know what to do. I was
backing towards the kitchen, she was still coming towards me, arguing with me.
I wanted her to keep quiet.”
“I just turned and got a
knife out of the drawer. I was going to stop her arguing. I was going to stab
her with the knife.”
He said she did not seem to
think he would do anything with it and was “putting him down all the time”.
“I felt bad, ridiculed over
everything that had gone on. We went towards the settee and I tripped and fell
forwards and the knife fell into her chest. I was right on top of her. She
grabbed hold of my left hand and i was saying, ‘shut up, shut up’. She screamed
and sighed, a deep breath, I got up in shock. I felt terrible when I realised
what I had done, I just wanted to end it all.”
The court heard Davenport
took an overdose of tablets and stabbed himself before dialling 999. Senior
Investigating Officer Bob Tonge said after the case:
“This was a senseless crime
which has devastated a family. They have had to deal with the shock and sadness
of losing their mother and have then had to endure the trial and sentencing of
their father. They now have to pick up the pieces and move on with their
lives.”
Source: Irish Mirror
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