‘WE’RE DEVASTATED’
Father of dad-of-four stabbed to death by his girlfriend tells of his grief and how the family are hoping to challenge the killer’s prison sentence
THE grief-stricken family of a dad-offour killed by his ‘evil’ girlfriend say they are ‘broken’ after she was jailed for less than five years.
Craig Morse’s loved-ones have condemned the ‘pathetic and ludicrous’ sentence handed out to Tonia Crabtree, aged 29, after she stabbed him in the heart.
The 33-year-old’s final words, according to his killer, were ‘I love you’. But his heartbroken dad Dillwyn Morse says the family will never be able to forgive Tonia.
He today described Tonia, right, as an ‘evil domestic abuser’ who played the court to ‘get off’ with a lighter sentence.
Slamming the four years and nine-month prison term, Dillwyn, aged 56, from Leek, said: “We thought she’d get life for murder not be out in a few years for manslaughter.
“We hoped it would bring closure but we can’t carry on with our lives knowing we’ve let Craig down. I promised my son when we buried him that we would get justice but we’ve failed.
“We are devastated, it was like the funeral all over again. I’m in pieces.
“It’s just an insult. Is that all my son is worth? I have had to tell my four little grandchildren that ‘daddy’s been hurt so badly that he won’t be coming home’. It was so, so difficult. How is this justice?
“She’ll be out on the streets again in a year or so and God forbid she ever does it again. I’m frightened that another family will have to go through what we have. She’s pure evil.
“We have been let down immensely. We are looking at if there’s a way of challenging the sentence.”
Craig – who previously lived in Bentilee, Tunstall, Leek, Meir, Hanley and Shelton – had been in an on-off relationship with Tonia for over a year.
They lived together in Tunstall before Tonia relocated to Langley Mill in Derbyshire and Craig moved in during lockdown.
It was when Craig was trying to wrestle a knife from Tonia’s hands to stop her self-harming that the 9cm blade pierced his chest.
Emergency services were called in the early hours of April 2 but nothing could be done to save him. Dad-ofseven Dillywn said it was typical his son was trying to help Tonia when he was fatally wounded.
He said: “We just don’t know what he saw in her. I think he thought he could help her. He died trying to stop her hurting herself. That’s the type of person he was.
“She’s tried to make out it was some Romeo and Juliet scene but she’s a cold-blooded killer. She went and stabbed him straight in the heart. The blade went 9cm in. It was just crocodile tears in court.”
Craig, who was born partially deaf, attended St Mark’s in Shelton and later St Peter’s Academy in Penkhull.
While Dillwyn admits Craig had a troubled past, he insists his son had got his life back on track in the last few years and had a job with Unitas as a sub-contractor. He added: “He was a loving, kind and hardworking person. He’d never be violent except in self-defence.
“Not one good thing was said about him in court. They’ve destroyed the lad’s character. He would have done anything for anybody.
“I’ve found out so much more since he died. I’ve had 3,500 messages from people saying what a good lad he was.”
Craig’s sister Kara Morse, aged 20, shared a video of Craig looking happy when he got his new home.
The student said: “He was such a bubbly character, he could make you laugh. He was so caring. He was over the moon when he got his new home.
“I think he thought he could help Tonia. He couldn’t see her for the nasty piece of work that she is.”
Danielle Collins – the mother of three of Craig’s children – added: “My seven-year-old daughter collapsed on the floor when she was told. “My children have been in tears. It’s broken me to pieces.
“Craig didn’t have much but he would take them to the shops. He loved his children.”
Crabtree had previously denied the more serious charge of murder but it was dropped on the grounds that there was insufficient evidence to convince a jury that she intended to kill or cause really serious harm.
She went on to admit manslaughter before being sentenced at Derby Crown Court this week.