Man stabbed girlfriend to death ‘over nothing’
THE family of a woman stabbed to death “over nothing” said her killer “could have walked away”.
Pablo Hoad stabbed Shannon Stanley twice in the neck in the kitchen of her Small Heath flat during a drunken rage in the early hours of May 10 last year.
Hoad and his girlfriend had spent the evening with Ms Stanley, 27, at her Mount Pleasant home when an argument broke out.
Witnesses described Hoad dragging a helpless Ms Stanley into the kitchen where he slammed her against the worktop and stabbed her repeatedly. Friends called an ambulance for Ms Stanley but she died of her injuries at the scene.
Hoad, 29, fled before calling 999 and telling the operator: “I’m the perpetrator” and “I went too far”.
But he later tried to claim he had acted in self-defence.
Hoad, of Whitmore Road, Small Heath, was found guilty of manslaughter after being cleared of murder at Birmingham Crown Court.
He was sentenced to 17 years behind bars and given an extended four-year licence period after being declared ‘dangerous’ as defined by law.
Judge Inman summarised the
argument which preceded the violence as being “over nothing”.
But he acknowledged Ms Stanley had said she would ‘slice up everyone in the house’.
Ms Stanley’s family said Hoad “could have just walked away instead of doing what he did” in a joint statement released via police.
It read: “Shannon was a daughter, sister, niece and much loved by us all and all her friends. “She was living in Birmingham and enjoying life. Her life has now ended in the most violent way.
“She was at home with her friends where she should have been safe but the actions of Pablo Hoad that night took her life and her future away.
“He has taken our beloved Shannon away when he could have just walked away instead of doing what he did.
“Our lives will never be the same without her and she is missed terribly by us all.”
Det Insp Jim Mahon, of West Midlands Police, said: “Hoad lost control and repeatedly stabbed Shannon. Although he claims he never meant it to get out of hand, he never sought any help for her. Instead he ran home leaving Shannon fatally injured.
“Shannon had many people who loved and cared for her. I hope that they can feel some sense of justice following the result at court.”