Daily Express

5 years for yob who killed partner by throwing a phone at her neck

- By By

Paul Jeeves

A SERIAL domestic abuser was jailed for five years yesterday for killing his girlfriend by hurling a mobile phone at her neck.

Drunken Lloyd Birkby went berserk on a night out meant to rekindle his troubled relationsh­ip with Levi Ogden, 26.

Levi – mother of his two children – had posted happy images of them both on Facebook just hours before, captioned: “Date night. First one in forever.”

The pair had gone on a pub crawl but a row erupted and Birkby picked up a phone lying in the street and threw it at her with force from about 6ft away.

Levi collapsed in Halifax, West Yorkshire, on November 3.

She ruptured blood vessels in her neck by twisting away from the impact. This caused a brain bleed and cardiac arrest.

Birkby then shoved her friend Courtney Bland to the ground and walked off.

The thug, 27, was jailed after admitting manslaught­er but denying murder at Leeds Crown Court.

He had previously served jail time for battery and police

EMILY Maitlis has admitted she channelled police drama Line Of Duty to help her to interview Prince Andrew.

The Newsnight presenter, 49, said she aimed to use the “forensic approach” of DCI Kate Fleming, played by Vicky McClure, as she posed questions to the Duke of York regarding his relationsh­ip with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Speaking on the Table Manners podcast, Emily, 49,

Mark Jefferies

had been called to the couple’s home around 20 times.

Judge Geoffrey Mason QC told him: “You will have to carry with you the knowledge that you have deprived the children of their mother.”

A friend of Levi’s said: “Lloyd had a dreadful temper but she still loved him. They split up a couple of times before because of his violence. That said: “I think I was slightly channellin­g DCI Kate Fleming.

“There’s something so calmly forensic about the way she does it. It’s really unemotiona­l, really calm, really quiet, but you just know she’s done all her homework.

“It was just a question of making sure we understood the full narrative of what he was able to tell us.” night was supposed to be another attempt to give their relationsh­ip a go.”

Stephen Wood QC, defending, said Birkby’s mental age was about 11 and the judge found that he was in the “lower culpabilit­y range” because of it.

“He has a history of pushing, shoving and spitting at his victim and throwing objects at his victims,” MrWood added.

 ??  ??
 ??  ?? Emily Maitlis was forensic with the Duke of York
Emily Maitlis was forensic with the Duke of York
 ??  ?? Pictures: SWNS, MEN
Spitting...Lloyd Birkby
Pictures: SWNS, MEN Spitting...Lloyd Birkby
 ??  ?? Collapsed...Levi Ogden
Collapsed...Levi Ogden
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