Latest news with #NortonCanes
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Daily Mail
Woman accused of murdering ex-partner on Christmas Day tells jury she is 'not a violent person'
A woman accused of murdering her ex-partner on Christmas Day has told a jury that she is 'not a violent person'. Kirsty Carless, 33, allegedly stabbed Louis Price in the heart in the early hours of December 25, 2024. The attack was said to be 'motivated by anger and jealousy and fuelled by cocaine and alcohol ' after a friend sent her a picture of his dating profile on Tinder, Stafford Crown Court heard. CCTV showed Carless 'stalking' Mr Price, 31, around the garden before he was later found with a single stab wound to the chest on the conservatory floor. The defendant has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denies murder and possessing an offensive weapon in a public place in relation to the fatal incident. She also denies one count of intentional strangulation and another of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in relation to a separate incident on November 11, 2024. And in court on Tuesday, Carless insisted she has no recollection of knifing her former partner. Asked if she intended to kill Mr Price, she said: 'No, I'm not a violent person.' She added that she had no intention to cause him serious harm. Prosecutors allege Carless, of Haling Way in Cannock, Staffordshire, took a kitchen knife in a taxi from her home to Mr Price's parents' property in Elm Road, Norton Canes, where she expected to find him with a woman. The court was told Mr Price was considered by police to be 'at very high risk of domestic abuse' before his death that day. Carless told the jury that she had phoned him to see if he had taken money from inside a card she had in her home. He did not answer, so she got a taxi to his parents' address, adding that she brought a set of keys and phone with her, denying she had a knife about her person. Asked why she told the driver she would only be a minute, Carless said: 'Because I was going to get the money and come back.' She said she opened the front door and shouted but no one answered, then went upstairs, adding: 'I didn't care whether he was in bed with somebody else, I wasn't interested.' Carless added she was in the kitchen and there was 'no one about', then a light came on outside. She said: 'Louis was sat on the floor. Then I panicked and ran off.' Carless's defence barrister asked her why she picked up a knife, and she said she was going 'to go and destroy the caravan' because, as far as she was aware, he had taken the money. She said: The next thing I know I was stood by the breakfast bar...' and she added that Mr Price said, 'you've hurt me you stupid b***h'. 'He was coming back to his feet and I just panicked then.' Carless insisted that she does not recall chasing her ex around the garden at this point, but just remembers the 'fear' she felt that night. She does not recollect what she did with the knife but she remembers heading to her mother's house. The defendant she did not answer any questions when she was interviewed by police, she said she was advised by the legal team. Carless added that she now feels 'disgusted' about the matter. Later, Jonas Hankin KC, prosecuting, put to Carless that she was 'jealous and possessive' towards Mr Price, but she replied: 'No.' Mr Hankin added: 'And if he spoke to another woman, you would assault him.' Carless responded: 'No.' When Mr Hankin suggested she lost her temper when she saw the Tinder profile, she replied: 'No.' After he put to her that she 'couldn't bear to think of him with somebody else on Christmas Eve', Carless said: 'He already had another girlfriend.' Asked about another incident in November, she said she was throwing Mr Price's stuff down the stairs when he pinned her down and she was then pushing him off her. She claimed she did not assault her ex-partner that day, neither did she shout at him. The trial continues.
BBC News
3 days ago
- BBC News
Murder accused Kirsty Carless denies being a violent person
A woman accused of murdering her ex-partner said she had no recollection of stabbing him and she was "not a violent person".Prosecutors said the attack by Kirsty Carless on Louis Price, 31, at his parents house in Norton Canes, Staffordshire, was "motivated by anger and jealousy and fuelled by cocaine and alcohol" after a friend sent her a picture of his dating profile on showed Ms Carless, 33, "stalking" Mr Price around the garden before he was later found with a single stab wound to the chest on the conservatory floor, Stafford Crown Court Carless denies murder and possessing an offensive weapon in a public place in relation to the fatal incident on December 25. She also denies a count of intentional strangulation and one of assault in relation to an earlier said Ms Carless, of Haling Way in Cannock, took a kitchen knife in a taxi from her home to Mr Price's parents' address where they said she expected to find him with a Price was considered by police to be "at very high risk of domestic abuse" before his death, the court Tuesday, Ms Carless told the court she went to Mr Price's parents' address as she believed he had taken money from inside a card she had in her home. Ms Carless's defence barrister asked what she took with her, and she said a set of keys and phone. Asked if she had a knife with her, she said "no".Asked why she told the taxi driver she would only be a minute, she said: "Because I was going to get the money and come back."She said she opened the front door and shouted but no one answered, so she then went added she did not care whether he was in bed with somebody then said she was in the kitchen, and there was "no one about", then a light came on what happened next, she said: "I remember being in the conservatory, that was it the next thing I knew I was in the kitchen."Louis was sat on the floor. Then I panicked and ran off."Ms Carless' defence barrister asked her why she had picked up a knife, and she said she was going "to go and destroy the caravan" and, asked why, she said as far as she was aware he had taken the said she heard Mr Price had said "you've hurt me" and did not remember chasing him around the garden. She had no recollection of stabbing Mr Price, she said, and added she was not a violent person. She also said she did not intend to cause him serious Carless's defence barrister said the court had heard she had pleaded guilty to about an incident in November by her defence barrister, Ms Carless said she was throwing Mr Price's stuff down the stairs when he pinned her down, and she was then pushing him off Hankin, prosecuting, said she had shouted at Mr Price and strangled him, but she said she had denies murder and possessing an offensive weapon in a public place in relation to the fatal incident on 25 December 2024 and one count of intentional strangulation and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in relation to an incident on 11 November trial continues. Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
16-07-2025
- BBC News
Louis Price was 'scared' of ex accused of Christmas murder
A dad-of-six who was allegedly murdered on Christmas Day by his "abusive" ex-partner was "scared" of her, a friend of the victim has told her Carless, 33, is on trial at Stafford Crown Court, where she denies murdering 31-year-old Louis Price by stabbing him in the heart. Prosecutors suggested the attack had been "motivated by anger and jealousy and fuelled by cocaine and alcohol" after a friend sent her a picture of his dating profile on allege Ms Carless, of Haling Way in Cannock, Staffordshire, took a kitchen knife in a taxi from her home to Mr Price's parents' address in Elm Road, Norton Canes, where she expected to find him with a woman. CCTV showed Ms Carless "stalking" him around the garden before he was later found with a single stab wound to the chest on the conservatory evidence on the second day of the trial, friend Demi-Louise Deakin said Mr Price had confided in her about his on-off relationship with Ms Carless when they attended a funeral at the end of November by prosecution counsel Jonas Hankin KC what Mr Price had said, Miss Deakin said: "He said he was scared of Kirsty and if he didn't leave soon something bad would happen to him."He said she can be violent towards him."A neighbour told the court she had called the police after witnessing Ms Carless chasing and hitting Mr Price in the ribs with a metal pole outside the house while he had his arms up protecting his head. Jurors were shown police body-worn video footage from when officers attended the defendant's home on 11 November Price had phoned 999 to say she had poured bleach over tracksuits worth £400, thrown a glass candle holder at him, pulled him down the stairs and choked a witness statement after the incident, he said the relationship "on the whole, has been abusive".He said: "She has constantly been abusive towards me, stopped me doing things I enjoy like football, and physically abused me."Ms Carless denies murder and possessing an offensive weapon in a public place in relation to the fatal incident on 25 December also also denies one count of intentional strangulation and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in relation to the incident on November 11 trial continues. Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
Daily Mail
15-07-2025
- Daily Mail
'Jealous' ex-girlfriend stabbed father-of-six in the heart on Christmas Day after seeing his Tinder profile, court hears
A 'jealous' ex-girlfriend stabbed a father-of-six in the heart on Christmas Day after seeing his Tinder profile, a court has heard. Kirsty Carless, 33, was 'fuelled by cocaine and alcohol ' when she took a taxi from her home in Cannock, Staffordshire, to her ex Louis Price's parents's house in Norton Canes and plunged a kitchen knife into his chest, Stafford Crown Court was told. She made the trip at 3am on December 25, 2024, after a friend had showed her Mr Price's dating app profile, despite being on police bail after allegedly strangling him on November 11, 2024. Carless, who appeared in the dock wearing a white shirt with her hair in a ponytail, denies murdering Mr Price, 31, and possessing an offensive weapon in a public place. She also denies one count of intentional strangling and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm in relation to the claim she strangled Mr Price the month before the alleged stabbing. In his opening speech on Tuesday, prosecution counsel Jonas Hankin KC said Mr Price had been considered by police to be 'at very high risk of domestic abuse' before his death. He said the pair had been in a 'dysfunctional, abusive and highly volatile relationship which began in 2021' and was 'characterised by a cycle of separation and reconciliation'. In text messages sent to Mr Price the day before his death, Carless said 'I hate u... I wish you was dead'. The court heard Carless had been at the pub drinking double vodka and Cokes with a male friend on December 24 who she later had sex with three times at his home. At around 1.30am on Christmas Day, a female friend sent her a screenshot of Mr Price's Tinder profile. 'When she received this Tinder profile, things changed,' Mr Hankin said. 'The prosecution say the defendant's actions were motivated by anger and jealousy, fuelled by cocaine and alcohol abuse. 'Her behaviour simply reflects her volatile, aggressive personality.' While she had been due to stay at the male friend's home, she instead called a taxi back to her flat before calling Mr Price 45 times between 2.15am and 2.44am. The only pause in her 'barrage' of phone calls was to phone another cab to take her to Mr Price's parents house where he had been staying in a caravan in the garden. Impatient for the taxi to arrive, she called the cab company two more times to check where it was, Mr Hankin said. Members of Mr Price's family sobbed in the public gallery as CCTV was played showing the moment Carless arrived at the house just after 3am and 'stalked' him around the garden as he held his chest. She had initially gone upstairs to the property's spare bedroom where she had expected to find Mr Price with another woman, Mr Hankin said. He told the jury, of seven men and five women: 'The defendant stabbed Louis Price, her ex-partner, in the heart with a kitchen knife more than a foot long. 'The blade penetrated 12cm into his chest, cutting through skin, muscle, rib cartilage, lung tissue and the heart. 'He died rapidly on the floor of the conservatory in his parents' home.' He added: 'The defendant is charged with murder. The prosecution say that she intended to kill Mr Price and in order to prove the offence of murder, we have to prove she intended to at least cause really serious harm. 'We say, what else can she have intended, when she drove this knife into the chest of her ex-partner? 'The evidence will show that the defendant had taken that knife with her to the scene for the specific purpose of stabbing her ex-partner.' Mr Hankin said 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 allegedly admitted what she had done and 999 was called. 'The evidence shows, the prosecution say, that Kirsty Carless was manipulative, emotionally volatile and jealous,' Mr Hankin said. 'Her harmful use of alcohol and cocaine worsened her behaviour and the effects of intoxication intensified the negative traits of her personality.' The trial continues.
Telegraph
15-07-2025
- Telegraph
Ex-girlfriend ‘stabbed father of six to death while on bail for strangling him'
A 'jealous' ex-girlfriend stabbed a father of six in the heart on Christmas Day while on police bail for strangling him, a court has heard. Kirsty Carless, 33, allegedly murdered Louis Price, 31, in a cocaine and alcohol-fuelled rage on Dec 25 last year. Stafford Crown Court was told she took a taxi from her home in Cannock, Staffordshire, to Norton Canes and plunged a kitchen knife into his chest after a friend had shown her his profile on a dating app. Carless, who appeared in the dock wearing a white shirt with her hair in a ponytail, denies murdering Mr Price and possessing an offensive weapon in a public place. At the time of the fatal stabbing, Carless had been on police bail after allegedly strangling Mr Price on Nov 11, 2024. She denies one count of intentional strangling and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. 'At very high risk of domestic abuse' In his opening speech on Tuesday, Jonas Hankin KC, the prosecution counsel, said Mr Price had been considered by police to be 'at very high risk of domestic abuse' before his death. He said the pair had been in a 'dysfunctional, abusive and highly volatile relationship which began in 2021' and was 'characterised by a cycle of separation and reconciliation'. In text messages sent to Mr Price the day before his death, Carless said 'I hate u... I wish you was dead', the court heard. The court heard Carless had been at the pub drinking double vodka and cokes with a male friend on December 24 before a female friend sent her a screenshot of Mr Price's Tinder profile at around 1.30am on Christmas Day. 'When she received this Tinder profile, things changed,' Mr Hankin said. 'The prosecution say the defendant's actions were motivated by anger and jealousy, fuelled by cocaine and alcohol abuse. 'Her behaviour simply reflects her volatile, aggressive personality.' 'Manipulative, emotionally volatile and jealous' Mr Hankin told the jury: 'The prosecution say that she intended to kill Mr Price and in order to prove the offence of murder, we have to prove she intended to at least cause really serious harm. 'We say, what else can she have intended, when she drove this knife into the chest of her ex-partner? 'The evidence will show that the defendant had taken that knife with her to the scene for the specific purpose of stabbing her ex-partner.' Mr Hankin added: 'The evidence shows, the prosecution say, that Kirsty Carless was manipulative, emotionally volatile and jealous. 'Her harmful use of alcohol and cocaine worsened her behaviour and the effects of intoxication intensified the negative traits of her personality.' The trial continues.
