Girl,11, stabbed to death in doomed fight to save mum from her monster stepdad
A GIRL of 11 was murdered by her stepfather after she bravely came to the help of her mother who was stabbed to death at their home, a court heard yesterday.
Christopher Boon, 28, was handed a life sentence and ordered to spend a minimum of 29 years in prison for the murders of his wife Laura Mortimer and her daughter Ella Dalby.
Bristol Crown Court was told that wedding planner Miss Mortimer, 31, had ‘clearly fought for her life’ at her home in Gloucester.
Richard Smith QC, prosecuting, said Ella, who had a passion for dance, witnessed at least part of the attack before being killed while trying to help her mother.
‘Their bodies were found on the kitchen floor. Mother side by side with daughter in significant pools of blood,’ he said. ‘It is clear that it was a sustained and brutal episode of violence in which Laura and Ella suffered multiple stab wounds about their faces and necks.’
Miss Mortimer, who suffered blunt force injuries to her head and arms, consistent with a struggle, had 18 separate stab wounds, while her daughter suffered 24. Mr Smith said it appeared Ella had got out of bed and gone to the aid of her mother after hearing her downstairs with Boon in the early hours of May 28.
‘Having heard matters dramatically unfold in the kitchen, Ella got out of her bed and bravely came to the help of her mother,’ said the QC.
‘Eleven-year-old Ella must have witnessed, in part at least, the murderous attack on her mother before Boon also attacked his stepdaughter.’
After the attack, Boon left the house and phoned his mother, Jill Boon, at 4.30am to tell her what he had done. Miss Boon and her partner Richard Knight went to the property and discovered both bodies. They called 999 and officers from Glouces- tershire Police arrested Boon around a mile away, covered in blood.
He told officers: ‘I had an argument with my partner at about 3am. She slapped me across the face and I picked up a knife and lost it.’
After yesterday’s hearing, Boon, an electrical engineer, was labelled a monster by his victims’ family.
He had previously been convicted of violence towards women.
In 2010 he was given a suspended sentence after being convicted of assaulting his then-partner when she
‘Brutal episode of violence’
ended the relationship and attacking her mother as she came to help. As he brutally murdered his wife and stepdaughter his arm was in a cast.
The court was told this was because ten days prior he had punched a hole in the wall, telling his wife: ‘That was meant for your face.’
On Boxing Day 2014, Miss Mortimer, who ran a business offering bespoke bridal gowns and wedding planning services, ran screaming to a neighbour’s house and said Boon had hit her. Speaking shortly after her murder, her father, Richard, had described Boon as ‘a nasty piece of work’ and added: ‘He gave my daughter a rough life.’ Boon previously denied the charges against him but entered guilty pleas at yesterday’s hearing.
In a victim impact statement read to the court, Ella’s father, Tom Dalby, said his daughter had brought ‘great joy’ since her birth in July 2006.
‘I am haunted by recurring nightmares of the horror that they must have suffered,’ he said. ‘Every morning is a battle to get out of bed. The unbearable pain is always there. I feel empty and my heart is broken.
‘Every day I feel the terror and pain Ella must have felt in the last moments of her life.’
Miss Mortimer’s mother, Hilary Bartholomew said her daughter ‘lived life to the full’ and was ‘full of fun’.
Her statement added: ‘Laura was friendly to everyone and a happy person who loved to make others happy.
‘She was adored by all of her family and by her many friends. Laura was talented and a really hard worker. Ella
‘Life sentence of sorrow’
was my adored first grandchild and we were extremely close.
‘She was such a beautiful, loving, happy little girl. My husband and I had to identify Laura and Ella, and seeing them will stay in my head for the rest of my life.’
In sentencing Boon, Mrs Justice May praised Ella’s bravery for attempting to protect her mother from his ‘unspeakable savagery’.
‘Blood found on Ella’s feet leads to the inference that she must have come in when her mother was already bleeding,’ she said.
‘She would have witnessed some part of your murderous attack on her mother and tried to stop you before you turned the knife on her. What a brave girl.’ She told Boon: ‘Your wanton savagery has blighted the lives of many forever.’
Speaking outside court, the families of Miss Mortimer and Ella said: ‘No sentence will ever be enough to pay for what he has done to them and to us. He has given us a full life sentence of loss and sorrow. We are thankful that, that cruel, brutal monster will spend years behind bars.’