A woman who fatally stabbed her ‘abusive’ boyfriend in the chest following a row about a man has been jailed for over five years.
Katie Yeomans, 28, stabbed Rees Howarth once to the chest after the row erupted into violence. Both had been out drinking and taking cocaine when Mr Howarth became ‘jealous’ about another man he thought she had previously been in a relationship with.
Manchester Crown Court heard he had become ‘increasingly threatening’ and Yeomans had tried to call the emergency services before Mr Howarth took the phone from her. She then grabbed a kitchen knife before a scuffle ensued.
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As she tried to leave, Mr Howarth attempted to stop her, resulting in her stabbing him in the chest, puncturing his lung. Yeomans then called her sister saying: “I think I’ve killed him.”
After her sister came over to the house, Yeomans asked her for help to move Mr Howarth to an alleyway dubbed ‘The Tracks’ behind her house. She refused, and Yeomans went on to lie to the police and Mr Howarth’s dad, saying that he had been stabbed by somebody else.
Yeomans, of Hyde, has since admitted manslaughter on the grounds of loss of self control. Today, November 8, she was jailed for five years and three months. As she was led down to the cells, members of Mr Howarth's family could be heard shouting from the public gallery: "Outrage! Absolutely disgusting!"
The court heard that Yeomans and Mr Howarth were in a relationship at the time, in which he was described by a judge as being ‘violent, volatile and emotionally abusive’.
On April 22 this year, they had been on a night out to the Liquid nightclub in Oldham and returned home at 8.30am the next morning and continued drinking. “During the course of the evening a considerable quantity of cocaine had been taken by Rees Howarth and Katie Yeomans,” prosecutor Alex Leach KC said.
A man came round later that day to pick up some tobacco, during which he spoke to Mr Howarth, who was ‘welcoming and friendly’. Mr Howarth asked the man about another unnamed man, who he thought Yeomans had previously been in a relationship with.
After he left, Yeomans took a picture of herself and Mr Howarth holding cans of Stella Artois. Minutes later she phoned a friend and was crying, the court heard. She explained that Mr Howarth was ‘kicking off’ but she didn’t say why, and her friend could hear Mr Howarth shouting in the background.
She then shared a further picture of herself with Mr Howarth on Snapchat, in which both appeared ‘happy’. Yeomans would later say that she was trying to ‘placate’ Mr Howarth by taking the photo of them together, Mr Leach KC said.
“Thirty minutes later, at around 2.30pm, her phone was used to make a call to the 112 number. It was immediately terminated after one second,” the prosecutor continued.
Yeomans later said in a basis of plea document that Mr Howarth’s mood ‘quickly deteriorated into extreme aggressiveness and threats’. She said she was terrified and phoned the emergency services but he took the phone from her.
“He continued to harangue her about the other male and was shouting at her. She then picked up a knife and brandished it before he hit her to the back of the head,” Mr Leach KC said.
“His anger escalated and she believed he was going to cause her very serious harm, and the two moved towards the front door. “
She then stabbed Mr Howarth once to the left side of his chest, causing him to collapse. Yeomans called her sister telling her she thought she had killed him, but said he had attacked her.
She had dragged him back into the house, before her sister arrived and they both tried to resuscitate Mr Howarth and could be heard by neighbours shouting: ‘wake up Rees’, then ‘he’s not waking up’. She then asked her sister to help move his body outside but she refused, and told Yeomans that he needed medical attention.
Yeomans then called his dad, telling him: “He’s turned up at the house, he’s been stabbed. He’s OK though, he’s still breathing. He can’t be here.”
Emergency services then attended, with Yeomans initially lying to the police telling them that he was already injured. Doctors found that she also had injuries, namely bruising to her legs and arms, and a wound to her head.
A pathologist concluded that Mr Howarth’s cause of death was due to the single stab wound which had punctured his left lung and pulmonary artery.
Reading from his victim impact statement, the visibly emotional dad of Mr Howarth, Gary Howarth, told of the trauma of not truly knowing what happened to his son.
“As time goes on, I still can’t believe it’s real but I’ve got to,” he said. “It’s just so painful. I’ve always said he would be more mature in his 30s, but he will never see his 30s, and he will never reach his full potential.
“I regret that he couldn’t break the cycle of going back to Katie, he knew the relationship wasn’t right. We want Katie to tell the truth. I can’t get my head round the fact we will never see him again. Katie has caused a lot of pain and heartache.”
Mitigating, Nina Grahame KC said Yeomans was a victim of long standing domestic abuse, and as a result suffers from impaired cognitive and psychiatric difficulties. She said she had ‘complex mental functionality’ as a result of the trauma of previous abusive relationships.
She added there was a ‘degree of provocation’ from the situation, adding that she would ‘self medicate’ with alcohol and drugs.
In sentencing Yeomans, Mr Justice Mark Turner said: “The evidence is that Mr Howarth was volatile, violent and emotionally abusive towards you since your relationship started in 2017. About two years ago he stabbed and seriously injured the man of whom he was particularly jealous in front of you and in your house. He had assaulted your parents on multiple occasions.
“He would frequently make threats of violence towards you. There is also evidence of his violent conduct towards his previous partners. I accept that the relationship between you was one of coercive control and that Howarth took advantage of your chronic psychological dependency upon your relationship with him.”
Duncan Thorpe of GMP’s Major Incident Support Unit said: “Whatever sentence is imposed it will not be enough and it will sadly not bring Rees back. Of course, my thoughts are with Rees family and his loved ones, no parent, child, or friend should have their loved one taken away by someone else in this manner.”
Yeomans, of Thorsby Avenue, Hyde, will serve two thirds of her sentence in prison before being released on licence.
