Man who killed his ex at divorce party jailed

A SPURNED husband who stabbed his ex-wife to death on the day of her divorce party was jailed for life yesterday.

Posters declaring “The Party’s Here” and “Congratulations” were hung outside the house.

Inside, there were balloons and streamers, while a poster said: “Katrina’s Divorce Party. Free at last.”

The bodybuilder, of Marske, east Cleveland, snapped after seeing one photograph of his face with “Pin the tail on the X” written next to it.

He used a kitchen knife to stab the mother-of-two 12 times.

He told Teesside Crown Court he had not meant to hurt Katrina, and had no memory of the attack.

But a jury of six men and six women took just eight hours to convict Jones of murder by a unanimous verdict.

Jailing Jones for at least 10 years, Judge Peter Fox said: “Your intention I am clear was to kill her. You will therefore serve a minimum of 10 years before you can be considered for parole.”

Jones wept as he was led from the dock.

He had admitted killing his ex-wife as she prepared to hold the party.

But he denied murder, claiming he was provoked and had diminished responsibility when he knifed her.

He was arrested on November 27 last year after he made a tearful 999 call telling an operator he had stabbed his wife, saying: “I have stabbed my wife, please come quickly. Will you please come and save her?”

Police and paramedics found Katrina Jones’ bloodied body slumped on the living room floor of the house in Church Close, Marske, east Cleveland.

It had a divorce party streamer draped across it.

The court heard during a two-week trial that a month before the killing the couple’s 10-year marriage was legally dissolved.

Seven months earlier, Katrina filed for divorce, citing her husband’s “unreasonable behaviour” as the reason for the petition.

Franz Muller QC, prosecuting, said Brian Jones had wanted to patch up the marriage.

It later emerged the mother-of-two had been having an affair with a friend from her past, Shaun Kelly, 45, for more than a year.

Muller said she had told her new lover her husband had warned that “if he couldn’t have her, no other man could”.

Outside the court, a Cleveland Police spokesman read out a statement by Katrina’s mother, Jean Evans, on behalf of her family.

She said: “My life has changed forever and it will never be the same again.

“Katrina was funny and caring and lovely to be around. I loved my daughter very much and still do.

“I miss being able to cuddle and hold her and I miss being able to tell her how much I love her and of how proud she made me feel every day.

“In hindsight I wish that I had told her every day that I loved her, at least it would have made up for all the times that I will not be able to do that now.”

The policeman leading the investigation, Detective Sgt Colin Helyer, said: “Cleveland Police operates a zero tolerance approach to domestic violence and every reported incident is treated with the utmost importance.

“This is one of the most extreme cases of domestic violence that I have ever dealt with and the victim endured months and months of abuse which has ultimately led to her death.”