Knowsley man sentenced for killing his own mother
Jamie Dempsey stabbed his mum Karen in August last year
A man who fatally stabbed his own mum through the heart while fighting with another man has been jailed for 19 years.
32-year-old Jamie Dempsey had been cleared on Monday of murdering his mum, Karen Dempsey, but the jury convicted him of manslaughter.
Liverpool Crown Court heard how he had plunged the knife into the chest of his 55-year-old mum while she was trying to separate her son and a man called Brian Flynn, and it went straight through her heart and out the other side ending up 1.5 cm into her liver.
Dempsey, of Brechin Road, Kirkby, who had not realised the seriousness of her injury, hugged his mum, whom he described as his “rock” and “best friend” and then fled the scene by the Brambles Pub in Kirkby.
During the incident, on August 22 last year Dempsey also stabbed Mr Flynn, who had earlier glassed him in the pub over a £2000 drug debt, said Peter Glenser, KC, prosecuting.
Mr Flynn was stopped by police nearby and arrested. He was taken to hospital after suffering significant injuries including a punctured lung, with the most serious stab wound being delivered to his left armpit.
Dempsey initially claimed he used a piece of glass and not a knife during the incident and said it was self-defence. But after learning of his mother's death, Dempsey changed his account and said he had found a knife by the back door of the pub after the initial altercation in the pub with Mr Flynn.
The jury cleared him of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Mr Flynn but found him guilty of the lesser charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm and also of possessing a knife.
Jailing him Judge Denis Watson, KC said:
“If you had thought for a moment about your mums’ wish to stop you, you would have realised that if you took the fight to him, she would try to intervene.”
He said that as he tried to stab Mr Flynn yet again, “it seems you were off balance, you missed him but your momentum turned 90 degrees or more and your knife plunged into your mothers chest. “
Medics at Aintree Hospital fought to save the life of Karen Dempsey, who collapsed shortly after the attack, but she was declared dead just over an hour after arriving there.
Dempsey told the court that he regretted stabbing his mum “more than anything in the world.”
He said that after stabbing her, "She just grabbed me and said 'Jamie you stabbed me'.
"I said 'mum, I'm sorry'. She said 'you're just a divvy lad, it would happen to you'.
"I gave her a hug and she said to leave. She told me to leave and get away from there. I loved her more than anything. Absolutely brilliant she was, best nan in the world."
Moving impact statements were read to the court by the victim’s partner and sister speaking of their grief.
After the victim’s death her family described her as “beautiful, vivacious and compassionate woman”.
She had worked at the Kirkby Unemployed Centre helping the community and after it closed she and her sister set up their own welfare rights service. She also joined a benefit, debt and IT advice charity in Skelmersdale.
Jailing him Judge Denis Watson, KC said ,“If you had thought for a moment about your mums’ wish to stop you, you would have realised that if you took the fight to him, she would try to intervene.”