A WOMAN who stabbed a “devoted” mum to death with a knife used to cut the cake at a child’s birthday party has been jailed for life.
Hope Rowe, 33, hid the blade in her handbag before attacking Charlotte Lawlor in front of horrified guests.
Central NewsHope Rowe has been jailed for life for murder[/caption]
Central NewsShe stabbed Charlotte Lawlor to death at a birthday party[/caption]
She then fled the scene with her partner Leigh Holder “without even a backward glance” at the 31-year-old as she lay dying on the ground.
Rowe has now been jailed for life with a minimum of 22 years after she was convicted of murdering Charlotte last September.
Holder, who had previous convictions for violence including a nine year jail sentence for wounding with intent, was jailed for 16 months for assisting an offender.
Inner London Crown Court heard Rowe and Charlotte had earlier been involved in a “verbal disagreement” at the party.
Before the brutal killing, Rowe was seen looking “agitated and angry” outside the home in Stepney Green, East London.
Prosecutor Charlotte Newell KC said: “She produced the knife from her bag. She was ranting and raving in the foyer.”
Rowe then stabbed Charlotte in the chest then continued to knife her as the mum lay in a pool of blood.
Ms Newell said she and Holder then left the scene “without a backward glance at the dead woman” despite knowing Rowe “had stabbed and likely killed Charlotte Lawlor”.
She continued: “Yet they were not concerned for the victim of that attack.
“Their concern was for themselves, and to evade, to whatever extent possible, taking responsibility for her actions.”
In a recorded voicemail, Holder later told Rowe: ‘”You absolute idiot. You killed her you f**king idiot.”
Rowe chillingly replied “Good”.
Jurors were shown doorbell camera footage and CCTV from a bus tracking Rowe’s movements after she fled the party.
Bodyworn footage later showed her at the police station putting her head in her hands as she asked an officer: “Murder?
“Is it attempted murder, or murder?”
She claimed she had experienced a momentary loss of control but her lies unravelled because of the voicemail and witness accounts.
Detective Sergeant Dean Musgrove, from the Met Police’s Specialist Crime North unit, said: “Our thoughts are with the friends and family of Ms Lawlor, many of whom personally witnessed the murder. We hope that this sentence gives them some closure.
“Rowe and her partner behaved despicably. This sentence shows that killers will be pursued even in cases where they attempt to mislead investigators.”
Rowe hid the knife in her handbagCentral News
She left the victim in a pool of blood on the ground Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
