A 25-year-old man has admitted murdering a former University of Nottingham student in a Leeds flat.
Joe Atkinson appeared at Leeds Crown Court today, Friday, accused of murdering Poppy Devey Waterhouse, 24, on December 14, in a block of flats at The Avenue, Leeds.
In a short hearing in a packed courtroom, he pleaded guilty to murdering 24-year-old Miss Devey Waterhouse.
Dressed in a blue, crew-necked jumper, the defendant spoke only to confirm his name and to enter his guilty plea to the single charge, watched by many members of his own and his victim's families.
A number of people in court were in tears. No details of the case were given in court.
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It is understood the defendant and Miss Devey Waterhouse lived together in the flat, and that the couple met when they were both studying at the University of Nottingham.
Miss Devey Waterhouse, who was originally from Frome, in Somerset, studied at the university from 2012 to 2015, before going on to work as an analyst for William Hill.
A coroner heard in January how paramedics were called to the flat "in relation to an assault by stabbing". That brief inquest hearing was told that a post-mortem examination revealed that Miss Devey Waterhouse died from "head and neck trauma".
Atkinson, of The Avenue, Richmond Hill, Leeds, was remanded in custody by the judge, Mr Justice Lavender, who told him he will be sentenced next week, on April 12.
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