Man jailed for life for murder of travel agent at Tui shop in Southport
Andrew Burke, 31, from St Helens, pleaded guilty to murder.
A man who admitted murdering his ex-partner's new girlfriend in front of shoppers has been jailed for a minimum of 26 years.
Andrew Burke attacked 28 year-old Cassie Hayes at the Tui travel agents she worked at in Southport back in January.
The court heard Andrew Burke, 31, of Vincent Street , St Helens, did it for revenge.
Opening the case, Gordon Cole QC, prosecuting, said the murder was a pre-meditated and planned attack carried out in a "totally ruthless way''.
He said: "It was essentially an execution of a young woman in her place of work.''
The court heard that the defendant was the ex-partner of Laura Williams, 29, who had been in a relationship with Ms Hayes since the break-up.
Mr Cole said the split between Ms Williams and the defendant had caused problems.
Mr Cole said Ms Hayes was attending to a family at the front desk of the Tui branch in Chapel Street on a Saturday lunchtime when Burke entered with his hood up and walked past to the currency exchange.
He then told a cashier: "I just want to apologise for what I am about to do.''
Burke was then seen to lower his hood before he walked behind Ms Hayes and placed his arms behind her head.
The prosecutor said: "He lifted her head, exposing her neck with his left arm and then ran his right hand across her throat.
"It was immediately apparent that there was blood flowing and that Cassie Hayes had had her throat cut.''
Burke remained at the back of the shop and made apologies by saying that nobody deserved to see what happened, the court was told.
He was also heard to have made remarks to the effect that Ms Hayes "had it coming for her what she had done to his family''.
Mr Cole said: "After this ruthless and chilling murder the defendant seemed to remain calm. He showed no emotion and remained seated whilst everybody else was reacting in one way or another to what had happened.''
Police arrived at the scene and found Burke lying on the floor in the centre of the shop with his head towards the door.
The defendant told a firearms officer: "I'm no threat to you, officer. I've got nothing else on me. The knife's on the table.
"Can you tell the family that was in here I'm sorry, I thought I'd waited till there were no kids in there.
"I was in court yesterday and I lost. It was either kill me or kill her, so I killed her.
"The only reason I wasn't still cutting her when you turned up was cos you'd shoot me and I didn't want to put you through that.''
When the defendant was arrested on suspicion of murder and cautioned, he replied: "Has she died?''
Ms Hayes was taken to Southport Hospital and was pronounced dead the same afternoon.