Mum, 26, who stabbed her boyfriend with steak knife and let him bleed to death challenges murder conviction
A MUM who stabbed her boyfriend to death with a steak knife is set to challenge her murder conviction.
Emma-Jayne Magson, 26, from Leicester, knifed 26-year-old James Knight in the heart and waited 45 minutes to dial 999 in March 2016.
She was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment at Leicester Crown Court in November 2016.
A one-day appeal against her conviction will be heard by three senior judges in London on Tuesday.
Her lawyers say “fresh evidence” has come to light that she may have been suffering from diminished responsibility at the time of the killing.
FRESH EVIDENCE
They will argue that Magson’s emotionally unstable personality disorder substantially impaired her ability to exercise self-control.
They will also say she was unable to participate fully in her trial, due to neurodevelopmental and comprehension difficulties which left her unable to understand the proceedings.
A jury at Leicester Crown Court heard that Magson and Mr Knight had a “volatile” relationship and had been in a drunken row in the run-up to the fatal attack.
Magson was described as “cold, brutal and manipulative” and was accused of “sacrificing” Mr Knight by delaying calling emergency services for around 30 minutes.
Sentencing her, Judge Nicholas Dean QC said: “You have demonstrated no real remorse for what you did – on the contrary, you have effectively blamed James Knight for what you did.”
“NO REMORSE”
Her barrister Clare Wade QC said at that hearing that Magson’s diagnosis of emotionally unstable personality disorder “provides an explanation for her conduct and was a significant contributory factor”.
She said it was arguably “more likely than not that, at the time of the offence, (Magson) was suffering from diminished responsibility”.
In a written statement prepared for her trial, Magson – who did not give evidence before the jury – said Mr Knight grabbed her around the throat, adding that she “reached out to grab something” from the kitchen sink and picked up a steak knife.
She said: “I hit out once. It happened so quickly, I cannot be sure how it happened. I didn’t want to harm him.”
The appeal hearing, before Lord Justice Fulford, Mr Justice William Davis and Mr Justice Johnson, is due to start at 10.30am.
Supporters of Magson will gather outside from 9.30am and members of her family are expected to attend the hearing.
