Jealous boyfriend stabbed partner to death after she changed Facebook status to 'single'



A jealous boyfriend who knifed his partner to death after she changed her Facebook status from 'married' to 'single' has been jailed for life.

Mother-of-four Hayley Jones, 26, was found stabbed by her young children just days after altering her status on the popular social networking site.

She and Brian Lewis had been teenage sweethearts since Hayley was 13 and regarded themselves as man and wife even though they never married.

Lewis, 31, killed the care worker after telling friends he could not bear losing her to another man after she started spending more and more time online.

Jealous: Brian Lewis, left, stabbed Hayley Jones, his partner of 13 years, to death after she changed her status on Facebook from 'married' to 'single'



Enraged Lewis used a kitchen knife to stab Hayley through three layers of clothing and two sleeping bags.

Lewis - also known as Charlie - then fled the house while two of their children were standing at the top of the stairs listening to the row.

Son Kian gave video evidence how he heard his mother screaming: 'No Charlie, no Charlie, I love you’.

The jury heard that Kian heard his father call the police to say: 'I have killed my girlfriend.'

Kian, who was sitting on the top of the stairs with brother Jordan, seven, said: 'Then it all went quiet.

'I called if I could go for a wee. There was no answer so we went downstairs and saw mam lying on the floor.

'There was blood in her mouth and on her T-shirt. I was pushing her but she wouldn't wake up.'

Judge Mr Justice Roderick Evans jailed Lewis for life and ordered he serve at least 14 years.

He said: ‘It was a murderous attack. There was no provocation - this arose because you were frustrated, angry and hurt. You had been building up your anger.

'She did nothing or said nothing which could have acted as a trigger for this.’

Mark Evans, for the prosecution, said that the couple had been teenage sweethearts since Hayley was 13 and regarded themselves as man and wife even though they had never married.

He added: 'Hayley started to expand her social life and was spending a lot of time on internet sites in particular Facebook.

'She was quite secretive about this, preventing Lewis from using the site and turning the computer off - it is quite clear this rankled with him.

'On March 2, she changed her Facebook relationship status from married to single and she made it clear their relationship was over.

'A week after she Hayley changed her profile Lewis was heard telling drinking friends: "If I can't have her no f***er else will because I'll kill her first."'

The court heard that after the killing Lewis fled the scene to leave children Jordan, Cory, Kian and Tia to find their mother's body on the settee.

He later gave himself up to police.

Standing in the dock, he said: 'I wasn't happy about the way she was always on the computer. I was suspicious of her pulling the lid down on the laptop.

'I didn't think she was seeing anybody but I was suspicious about who she was talking to and who was sending her stuff on the computer.'

He denied murder, saying he was acting in self-defence after a disagreement, but a jury took just three hours to find him guilty.