Sarah Bramley from Darlington sent image to ex-partner who then killed Michael Lawson

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A woman has been jailed for four months after pleading guilty to inciting the killing of her boyfriend, who was murdered by her former partner.

Sarah Bramley, 29, revelled in the drama of having David Saunders and Michael Lawson vying for her attention because she had “lost her moral compass”, her barrister told Teesside crown court.

She sent an intimate photograph of herself performing a sex act on Lawson to Saunders, her former partner, “tipping him over the edge”, the court heard.

In the early hours of 1 July last year, Saunders stabbed Lawson through the heart with a kitchen knife.

Bramley, from Darlington, was jailed on Monday after she admitted encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence.

Saunders was jailed for life in December and ordered to serve a minimum of 22-and-a-half years for murder.

The court heard how Bramley and Saunders were involved in a love-hate relationship that frequently mixed messages of love with highly personal abuse.

Saunders, 33, stalked Lawson before getting a taxi to Bramley’s home and launching a surprise attack, stabbing his victim once in the heart.

Saunders and Bramley exchanged furious text and Facebook messages in the hours before the attack, the court heard.

Bramley admitted sending Saunders images of herself performing a sex act on Lawson, before urging him to “feel free to smack the cunt”.

Nick Dry, prosecuting, said it was this chain of events set in motion by Bramley that ultimately gave Saunders the motivation to kill the mild-mannered Lawson, noting she “appeared to revel in the drama” of the situation.

The court was told that after sending the explicit images Bramley forced Lawson out of her home on to the street, fearing Saunders would forcibly enter her home.

Saunders was nearby when Lawson was forced out of the house, and the stabbing occurred after a short chase.

Robert Newcombe, defending, said his client “had lost her moral compass at the time she was affected by substance abuse and alcoholism”.

Newcombe made an apology on her behalf to the court and to Lawson’s family, who sat in the public gallery.

The judge, Stephen Ashurst, said: “Although you did not contemplate that Saunders would go on to kill Michael Lawson, I take the view it is hard to conceive a more serious case of encouraging the commission of a common assault.”

He noted that the sexual contact between Bramley and Lawson and the messages she sent Saunders that night took place when her two young sons were in the property.

Bramley did not visibly react as she left the dock.