A 25-year-old man has been jailed for life after admitting he killed his “prodigiously talented” ex-girlfriend.
Joe Atkinson was sentenced to a minimum of 15 years and 310 days for the murder of “brilliant” mathematician Poppy Devey Waterhouse, 24.
Leeds Crown Court heard how Atkinson was “fuelled by jealousy” when he repeatedly stabbed Devey Waterhouse with a kitchen knife at their shared apartment in Richmond Hill, Leeds, on December 14 last year.
Prosecutors explained how the pair had been together for three years by late 2018, but had broken up in October last year.
The attack took place after Atkinson arrived back from his work Christmas party, with the victim suffering more than 100 separate injuries, including 49 knife injuries and 23 stab wounds all over her body.
In an emotional victim-impact statement that was read to Leeds Crown Court on Friday, the victim’s mother, Julie Devey, said: “As a parent, my basic duty is to make sure that I keep my children safe. I failed, and I have to carry that failure with me at all times, wherever I go, whoever I am with, whatever I am doing.”
She added: “I kept scraping my hands across the floor boards where she had been left screaming and dying.
“I just wanted to scoop her up and save her.
“I now live my life with a split screen, on one half I can see the now, and on the other half that horrific scene.”
“I just wanted to scoop her up and save her”
- Julie Devey
Atkinson had initially denied murder, but reversed his plea.
Jason Pitter, prosecuting, said: “Poppy Devey Waterhouse was a prodigiously talented mathematician, who was described as brilliant and beautiful who, at the age of 24, had her whole life ahead of her.
“It was a life cruelly taken away from her just before Christmas last year, because this defendant realised he was not going to be a part of this future.”
The prosecutor said, to tears from the victim’s family: “He had armed himself with a kitchen knife and murdered Poppy in an unprovoked attack fuelled by jealousy.”