Latest news with #Carless
Rhyl Journal
15 hours ago
- Rhyl Journal
‘Jealous' woman who murdered ex on Christmas Day jailed for minimum of 25 years
Kirsty Carless, 33, plunged a knife into 31-year-old father-of-six Louis Price's heart in the early hours of December 25 2024, in an attack 'motivated by anger and jealousy, and fuelled by cocaine and alcohol' after a friend sent her a picture of his dating profile, a trial at Stafford Crown Court heard. Sentencing her on Thursday in front of a packed public gallery, Judge Mr Justice Choudhury said Carless, of Haling Way in Cannock, Staffordshire, had 'destroyed the life of a young man and his family' when she fatally attacked him at his parents' home in Elm Road, Norton Canes. On Wednesday, after around a day of deliberation, a jury of seven men and five women found her guilty of murder and possession of an offensive weapon by unanimous verdicts in relation to the fatal stabbing. She was also found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm by a majority of 11 to one in connection with an incident in November 2024 for which she was on police bail, but was cleared of intentional strangulation in relation to the same incident. Carless showed no reaction in the dock as Mr Justice Choudhury passed his sentence on Thursday said the defendant had shown 'no remorse' for what she had done and instead concocted a false story that she could not remember what had happened. The trial was told Carless had been at the pub drinking with a male friend on December 24 before they had sex three times at his home. She had been planning to stay the night when a female friend sent her a screenshot of Mr Price's Tinder profile at around 1.30am on Christmas Day, which sent her into what Mr Justice Choudhury called 'a jealous rage'. Carless then left the male friend's home, took a taxi back to her house, where she picked up a kitchen knife and got another taxi to Mr Price's parents' address, where she expected to find him with a woman but he was instead in a caravan in the back garden with friends. CCTV showed her running up the front path into the house and then 'stalking' him around the garden before he was later found with a single stab wound to the chest on the conservatory floor. Carless had called Mr Price 45 times between 2.15am and 2.44am while she waited for the taxi to take her to the address where he had been staying since their relationship ended – only breaking up what prosecution counsel Jonas Hankin KC called the 'barrage' of calls to impatiently phone the company to check where her taxi was. After arriving at the address, Carless asked the taxi driver to wait outside while she went into the property to stab Mr Price at around 3am. 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 her stepfather called 999. Mr Justice Choudhury said: 'Less than two minutes is all it took for you to take a life and ruin many others, including your own.' He added that Mr Price had only been inside the house for around six seconds, which meant Carless must have stabbed him 'on sight'. The judge said: 'The intention to kill was plain. You stabbed him in the chest, a highly vulnerable part of the body. 'Having stabbed him, you didn't stop there, you callously chased him around the garden brandishing a knife. You then fled, leaving him to die. 'You have showed no remorse for what you did, instead claiming falsely that you didn't remember.' The judge paid tribute to the 'dignity' of Mr Price's family, who all wore 'Justice for Louis' T-shirts as they watched the sentencing. In a victim impact statement, Mr Price's mother Eleanor said her son had been 'murdered by the woman he loved' and described him as a 'funny, beautiful man'. She said: 'Our hearts have been ripped apart. I brought Louis into this world and I should have left before him. 'Every minute of every day, I think about my boy. He was no angel, but thanks to Kirsty, he's now my angel. 'It is thanks to Kirsty that his children no longer have a dad. How can we ever get over something like this? We never will.' Mr Price's father Graham described him as 'my son, my fishing buddy, my best friend' and said his life had been taken by an 'act of evil'. He said: 'Louis lost his life, she took it from him. We will never forget Louis or forgive what has happened to him.' As Carless had been on police bail for assaulting Mr Price at the time of the fatal stabbing, Staffordshire Police made a referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, who decided not to investigate and the case was passed back to the force's professional standards department. In a statement, Staffordshire Police said: 'A number of positive actions were taken to mitigate the risks identified, which included arresting Kirsty Carless, imposing bail conditions to prevent her from having further contact with Louis Price, them living at separate addresses, and the submission of a public protection notice for consideration at a multi-agency risk assessment conference. 'No misconduct or learning was identified and officers updated Louis's father and explained the decision.'
South Wales Guardian
20 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
‘Jealous' woman who murdered ex on Christmas Day jailed for minimum of 25 years
Kirsty Carless, 33, plunged a knife into 31-year-old father-of-six Louis Price's heart in the early hours of December 25 2024, in an attack 'motivated by anger and jealousy, and fuelled by cocaine and alcohol' after a friend sent her a picture of his dating profile, a trial at Stafford Crown Court heard. Sentencing her on Thursday in front of a packed public gallery, Judge Mr Justice Choudhury said Carless, of Haling Way in Cannock, Staffordshire, had 'destroyed the life of a young man and his family' when she fatally attacked him at his parents' home in Elm Road, Norton Canes. On Wednesday, after around a day of deliberation, a jury of seven men and five women found her guilty of murder and possession of an offensive weapon by unanimous verdicts in relation to the fatal stabbing. She was also found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm by a majority of 11 to one in connection with an incident in November 2024 for which she was on police bail, but was cleared of intentional strangulation in relation to the same incident. Carless showed no reaction in the dock as Mr Justice Choudhury passed his sentence on Thursday said the defendant had shown 'no remorse' for what she had done and instead concocted a false story that she could not remember what had happened. The trial was told Carless had been at the pub drinking with a male friend on December 24 before they had sex three times at his home. She had been planning to stay the night when a female friend sent her a screenshot of Mr Price's Tinder profile at around 1.30am on Christmas Day, which sent her into what Mr Justice Choudhury called 'a jealous rage'. Carless then left the male friend's home, took a taxi back to her house, where she picked up a kitchen knife and got another taxi to Mr Price's parents' address, where she expected to find him with a woman but he was instead in a caravan in the back garden with friends. CCTV showed her running up the front path into the house and then 'stalking' him around the garden before he was later found with a single stab wound to the chest on the conservatory floor. Carless had called Mr Price 45 times between 2.15am and 2.44am while she waited for the taxi to take her to the address where he had been staying since their relationship ended – only breaking up what prosecution counsel Jonas Hankin KC called the 'barrage' of calls to impatiently phone the company to check where her taxi was. After arriving at the address, Carless asked the taxi driver to wait outside while she went into the property to stab Mr Price at around 3am. 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 her stepfather called 999. Mr Justice Choudhury said: 'Less than two minutes is all it took for you to take a life and ruin many others, including your own.' He added that Mr Price had only been inside the house for around six seconds, which meant Carless must have stabbed him 'on sight'. The judge said: 'The intention to kill was plain. You stabbed him in the chest, a highly vulnerable part of the body. 'Having stabbed him, you didn't stop there, you callously chased him around the garden brandishing a knife. You then fled, leaving him to die. 'You have showed no remorse for what you did, instead claiming falsely that you didn't remember.' The judge paid tribute to the 'dignity' of Mr Price's family, who all wore 'Justice for Louis' T-shirts as they watched the sentencing. In a victim impact statement, Mr Price's mother Eleanor said her son had been 'murdered by the woman he loved' and described him as a 'funny, beautiful man'. She said: 'Our hearts have been ripped apart. I brought Louis into this world and I should have left before him. 'Every minute of every day, I think about my boy. He was no angel, but thanks to Kirsty, he's now my angel. 'It is thanks to Kirsty that his children no longer have a dad. How can we ever get over something like this? We never will.' Mr Price's father Graham described him as 'my son, my fishing buddy, my best friend' and said his life had been taken by an 'act of evil'. He said: 'Louis lost his life, she took it from him. We will never forget Louis or forgive what has happened to him.' As Carless had been on police bail for assaulting Mr Price at the time of the fatal stabbing, Staffordshire Police made a referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, who decided not to investigate and the case was passed back to the force's professional standards department. In a statement, Staffordshire Police said: 'A number of positive actions were taken to mitigate the risks identified, which included arresting Kirsty Carless, imposing bail conditions to prevent her from having further contact with Louis Price, them living at separate addresses, and the submission of a public protection notice for consideration at a multi-agency risk assessment conference. 'No misconduct or learning was identified and officers updated Louis's father and explained the decision.'
North Wales Chronicle
a day ago
- North Wales Chronicle
‘Jealous' woman who murdered ex on Christmas Day jailed for minimum of 25 years
Kirsty Carless, 33, plunged a knife into 31-year-old father-of-six Louis Price's heart in the early hours of December 25 2024, in an attack 'motivated by anger and jealousy, and fuelled by cocaine and alcohol' after a friend sent her a picture of his dating profile, a trial at Stafford Crown Court heard. Sentencing her on Thursday in front of a packed public gallery, Judge Mr Justice Choudhury said Carless, of Haling Way in Cannock, Staffordshire, had 'destroyed the life of a young man and his family' when she fatally attacked him at his parents' home in Elm Road, Norton Canes. On Wednesday, after around a day of deliberation, a jury of seven men and five women found her guilty of murder and possession of an offensive weapon by unanimous verdicts in relation to the fatal stabbing. She was also found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm by a majority of 11 to one in connection with an incident in November 2024 for which she was on police bail, but was cleared of intentional strangulation in relation to the same incident. Carless showed no reaction in the dock as Mr Justice Choudhury passed his sentence on Thursday said the defendant had shown 'no remorse' for what she had done and instead concocted a false story that she could not remember what had happened. The trial was told Carless had been at the pub drinking with a male friend on December 24 before they had sex three times at his home. She had been planning to stay the night when a female friend sent her a screenshot of Mr Price's Tinder profile at around 1.30am on Christmas Day, which sent her into what Mr Justice Choudhury called 'a jealous rage'. Carless then left the male friend's home, took a taxi back to her house, where she picked up a kitchen knife and got another taxi to Mr Price's parents' address, where she expected to find him with a woman but he was instead in a caravan in the back garden with friends. CCTV showed her running up the front path into the house and then 'stalking' him around the garden before he was later found with a single stab wound to the chest on the conservatory floor. Carless had called Mr Price 45 times between 2.15am and 2.44am while she waited for the taxi to take her to the address where he had been staying since their relationship ended – only breaking up what prosecution counsel Jonas Hankin KC called the 'barrage' of calls to impatiently phone the company to check where her taxi was. After arriving at the address, Carless asked the taxi driver to wait outside while she went into the property to stab Mr Price at around 3am. 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 her stepfather called 999. Mr Justice Choudhury said: 'Less than two minutes is all it took for you to take a life and ruin many others, including your own.' He added that Mr Price had only been inside the house for around six seconds, which meant Carless must have stabbed him 'on sight'. The judge said: 'The intention to kill was plain. You stabbed him in the chest, a highly vulnerable part of the body. 'Having stabbed him, you didn't stop there, you callously chased him around the garden brandishing a knife. You then fled, leaving him to die. 'You have showed no remorse for what you did, instead claiming falsely that you didn't remember.' The judge paid tribute to the 'dignity' of Mr Price's family, who all wore 'Justice for Louis' T-shirts as they watched the sentencing. In a victim impact statement, Mr Price's mother Eleanor said her son had been 'murdered by the woman he loved' and described him as a 'funny, beautiful man'. She said: 'Our hearts have been ripped apart. I brought Louis into this world and I should have left before him. 'Every minute of every day, I think about my boy. He was no angel, but thanks to Kirsty, he's now my angel. 'It is thanks to Kirsty that his children no longer have a dad. How can we ever get over something like this? We never will.' Mr Price's father Graham described him as 'my son, my fishing buddy, my best friend' and said his life had been taken by an 'act of evil'. He said: 'Louis lost his life, she took it from him. We will never forget Louis or forgive what has happened to him.' As Carless had been on police bail for assaulting Mr Price at the time of the fatal stabbing, Staffordshire Police made a referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, who decided not to investigate and the case was passed back to the force's professional standards department. In a statement, Staffordshire Police said: 'A number of positive actions were taken to mitigate the risks identified, which included arresting Kirsty Carless, imposing bail conditions to prevent her from having further contact with Louis Price, them living at separate addresses, and the submission of a public protection notice for consideration at a multi-agency risk assessment conference. 'No misconduct or learning was identified and officers updated Louis's father and explained the decision.'
Irish Daily Mirror
a day ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Woman 'fuelled by cocaine & alcohol' jailed for killing ex on Christmas morning
A woman "motivated by anger and jealousy and fuelled by cocaine and alcohol" who murdered her ex-boyfriend on Christmas Day has been jailed for life. Kirsty Carless plunged a knife into 31-year-old Louis Price's heart in the early hours of December 25, 2024 after a friend sent her a picture of his Tinder profile, Stafford Crown Court heard. Described as a "manipulative, emotionally volatile and jealous" woman, she was on police bail for strangling Mr Price the month before when she carried out the murder, reports The Mirror. On Thursday, she was told she will serve a minimum of 25 years behind bars. Undated handout photo issued by Staffordshire Police of Kirsty Carless, who murdered her ex-partner Louis Price on Christmas Day last year (Image: PA) Earlier this week, after around a day of deliberation, a jury of seven men and five women unanimously found Carless, 33, guilty of murder and possession of an offensive weapon. She was also found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm by a majority of 11 to one in connection with an incident in November 2024. She was cleared of intentional strangulation in relation to the same incident. The trial was told Carless, from Cannock, Staffordshire, had been at the pub drinking double vodka and cokes with a male friend on Christmas eve. She later had sex with the male at his home before a female friend sent her a screenshot of Mr Price's Tinder profile at around 1.30am on Christmas Day, which left her angry. Carless left the male friend's home, took a taxi back to her house, where she picked up a kitchen knife and got another taxi to Mr Price's parents' address, where she expected to find him with a woman. CCTV showed her running up the front path into the house and then "stalking" him around the garden before he was later found with a single stab wound to the chest on the conservatory floor. She was spotted on CCTV (Image: PA) She took a large knife with her (Image: PA) Carless had called Mr Price 45 times between 2.15am and 2.44am while she waited for the taxi to take her to the address where he had been staying since their relationship ended. After arriving at the address, she asked the taxi driver to wait outside while she went into the property to stab Mr Price at around 3am. 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, 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. Father-of-six Mr Price had been considered by police to be "at very high risk of domestic abuse" and Carless was on police bail at the time of the fatal stabbing after strangling Mr Price on November 11, 2024. Louis Price (Image: PA) On that occasion, Mr Price phoned 999 to say Carless had poured bleach over tracksuits worth £400 (approximately €460) 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*****g 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. The trial was told of several previous incidents in which the police had been called, including an incident on March 5, 2023, in which Carless had said Mr Price had punched her and been violent and he was arrested, before later retracting her statement. A neighbour had recalled seeing Carless hitting Mr Price with a metal pole in the ribs outside her house on a different occasion. Mr Price's friend, Demi-Louise Deakin, also told the trial he had confided in her about his on-off relationship with Carless when they attended a funeral at the end of November 2024, telling her he was "scared of Kirsty" and feared "something bad would happen" if he did not leave her. 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. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here. The Irish Mirror's Crime Writers Michael O'Toole and Paul Healy are writing a new weekly newsletter called Crime Ireland. Click here to sign up and get it delivered to your inbox every week
Powys County Times
a day ago
- Powys County Times
‘Jealous' woman who murdered ex on Christmas Day jailed for minimum of 25 years
A 'jealous' woman who stabbed her ex-partner in the heart on Christmas Day after seeing his Tinder profile has been jailed for life with a minimum term of 25 years. Kirsty Carless, 33, plunged a knife into 31-year-old father-of-six Louis Price's heart in the early hours of December 25 2024, in an attack 'motivated by anger and jealousy, and fuelled by cocaine and alcohol' after a friend sent her a picture of his dating profile, a trial at Stafford Crown Court heard. Sentencing her on Thursday in front of a packed public gallery, Judge Mr Justice Choudhury said Carless, of Haling Way in Cannock, Staffordshire, had 'destroyed the life of a young man and his family' when she fatally attacked him at his parents' home in Elm Road, Norton Canes. On Wednesday, after around a day of deliberation, a jury of seven men and five women found her guilty of murder and possession of an offensive weapon by unanimous verdicts in relation to the fatal stabbing. She was also found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm by a majority of 11 to one in connection with an incident in November 2024 for which she was on police bail, but was cleared of intentional strangulation in relation to the same incident. Carless showed no reaction in the dock as Mr Justice Choudhury passed his sentence on Thursday afternoon. He said the defendant had shown 'no remorse' for what she had done and instead concocted a false story that she could not remember what had happened. The trial was told Carless had been at the pub drinking with a male friend on December 24 before they had sex three times at his home. She had been planning to stay the night when a female friend sent her a screenshot of Mr Price's Tinder profile at around 1.30am on Christmas Day, which sent her into what Mr Justice Choudhury called 'a jealous rage'. Carless then left the male friend's home, took a taxi back to her house, where she picked up a kitchen knife and got another taxi to Mr Price's parents' address, where she expected to find him with a woman but he was instead in a caravan in the back garden with friends. CCTV showed her running up the front path into the house and then 'stalking' him around the garden before he was later found with a single stab wound to the chest on the conservatory floor. Carless had called Mr Price 45 times between 2.15am and 2.44am while she waited for the taxi to take her to the address where he had been staying since their relationship ended – only breaking up what prosecution counsel Jonas Hankin KC called the 'barrage' of calls to impatiently phone the company to check where her taxi was. After arriving at the address, Carless asked the taxi driver to wait outside while she went into the property to stab Mr Price at around 3am. 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 her stepfather called 999. Mr Justice Choudhury said: 'Less than two minutes is all it took for you to take a life and ruin many others, including your own.' He added that Mr Price had only been inside the house for around six seconds, which meant Carless must have stabbed him 'on sight'. The judge said: 'The intention to kill was plain. You stabbed him in the chest, a highly vulnerable part of the body. 'Having stabbed him, you didn't stop there, you callously chased him around the garden brandishing a knife. You then fled, leaving him to die. 'You have showed no remorse for what you did, instead claiming falsely that you didn't remember.' The judge paid tribute to the 'dignity' of Mr Price's family, who all wore 'Justice for Louis' T-shirts as they watched the sentencing. In a victim impact statement, Mr Price's mother Eleanor said her son had been 'murdered by the woman he loved' and described him as a 'funny, beautiful man'. She said: 'Our hearts have been ripped apart. I brought Louis into this world and I should have left before him. 'Every minute of every day, I think about my boy. He was no angel, but thanks to Kirsty, he's now my angel. 'It is thanks to Kirsty that his children no longer have a dad. How can we ever get over something like this? We never will.' Mr Price's father Graham described him as 'my son, my fishing buddy, my best friend' and said his life had been taken by an 'act of evil'. He said: 'Louis lost his life, she took it from him. We will never forget Louis or forgive what has happened to him.' As Carless had been on police bail for assaulting Mr Price at the time of the fatal stabbing, Staffordshire Police made a referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, who decided not to investigate and the case was passed back to the force's professional standards department. In a statement, Staffordshire Police said: 'A number of positive actions were taken to mitigate the risks identified, which included arresting Kirsty Carless, imposing bail conditions to prevent her from having further contact with Louis Price, them living at separate addresses, and the submission of a public protection notice for consideration at a multi-agency risk assessment conference. 'No misconduct or learning was identified and officers updated Louis's father and explained the decision.'
