A woman who murdered a mother at a child's birthday party with the knife that had been used to cut the cake has been jailed for life.
Hope Rowe, 33, stabbed Charlotte Lawlor as she was leaving the event at a flat in Stepney Green, turning to extreme violence after they had argued over a missing set of keys.
Rowe – who was caught on camera knifing Ms Lawlor in the chest - was driven away from the scene by her partner Leigh Holder, 37, who helped her dispose of the murder weapon.
As they were fleeing, Holder accidentally left a voicemail on Rowe’s phone, recording their conversation just minutes after the stabbing. When he berated her, saying: “You absolute idiot, you killed her”, Rowe replied: “Good”.
At Inner London crown court on Wednesday, Rowe was sentenced to life in prison with an order that she must spend at least 23 years behind bars before being considered for release.
Judge Freya Newbury said Rowe and Holder had fallen out at the party, descending in to “playground bickering”.
But she added: “There was not then, nor later, any provocation by Charlotte Lawlor.”
“Your actions show an intention to kill Charlotte Lawlor”, said the judge, while highlighting that children as well as adults witnessed the murder.
The judge accepted she has a “moderate to severe” personality disorder, which had “magnified” her sense of being insulted and disrespected.
“Undoubtedly it causes serious problems with your emotional regulation. Any feeling of being insulted can set you mulling, and cause you to be furious, and you can’t come down from the rage.
“It releases the potential in you to act in a vengeful and violent manner.”
Holder, who was convicted of perverting the course of justice, was sentenced to 16 months in prison.
At the start of the sentencing hearing, a heartbreaking picture compilation created Ms Lawlor’s son 12-year-old Riley was played to the court, with a series of images of them together.
Love you mum, rest in peace, we’ll never forget you”, he said at the end of the video.
Ms Lawlor’s mother Tammy paid tribute to her daughter’s “incredible presence”, telling the court in an impact statement: “She lit up every room she walked into, she was fun, beautiful, kind, and full of life.”
Ms Lawlor’s grandmother Sharon John told the judge: “Since her death, the light has gone out of our family”, and described how regular Sunday family gatherings have come to an end after the murder.
“Our entire family is devastated beyond words”, she said.
“I still find myself messaging her on WhatsApp, it’s a habit I can’t break.”
The stabbing happened in the early hours of September 15 last year, after Rowe and Ms Lawlor joined family and friends for the birthday party of their shared nephew.
Rowe had brought the cake to the celebration, and the court heard she “barely knew” Ms Lawlor.
The judge said the two women got on initially, but “relations soured” and a witness heard Rowe telling Ms Lawlor “I will stab you” after the row broke out between the two women.
Rowe left the flat and took the knife with her, but then brought the weapon back when she returned to the party. She also sent a message to the party host, branding Ms Lawlor a “tramp” and threatening to “do” her.
Ms Lawlor said she "just wanted to go home" and went to leave to catch a taxi, but in a confrontation outside the property she and Rowe got into a fight.
The judge said Ms Lawlor was “getting the better” of Rowe in the tussle, and in a break Rowe went to her bag, retrieved the knife, and then inflicted the fatal blow.
She reached around her partner Holder and suddenly plunged the knife into Ms Lawlor’s chest, and then attempted to stab her again as the victim lay on the ground in a pool of blood.
At just after 2am, Holder’s vehicle was stopped by armed police in Tower Hamlets and he told them Rowe had jumped out of the car shortly after they left the scene of the stabbing.
But the phone evidence recovered by police experts revealed – thanks to the accidental voicemail – that Holder and Rowe had discussed the stabbing as they drove away, and she had spent time in the car talking to her sister and passing on information to Holder.
Rowe argued at trial that she had suffered a loss of self-control, but prosecutor Charlotte Newell KC told the court: “She acted in anger and out of revenge, she understood clearly what she was doing and the consequences of it.”
Holder, who was on licence at the time for a 2018 stabbing, was also convicted of helping to dispose of the murder weapon for his partner.
Rowe changed her clothes and attempted to dispose of them before she handed herself in to police at 7am the next morning.
Detective Sergeant Dean Musgrove, from the Met Police’s Specialist Crime North unit, said: “Hope Rowe launched a brutal attack on Charlotte Lawlor at what should have been a joyous occasion. Our thoughts are with the victim’s family and friends, who will have to contend not only with the loss of a loved one, but with the trauma of having witnessed the killing.
“As if the killing was not senseless enough, Rowe then tried to deceive investigators, disposing of the knife before turning herself in. It still has not been found to this day, and both Rowe and her partner were incriminated by a voicemail accidentally recorded on Rowe’s phone.”
In a letter to the judge, Rowe said she is “remorseful, disgusted, and heartbroken” at what she did.
She said she is “truly sorry for the loss of Charlotte, it will haunt me forever”, adding: “I’m so sorry Charlotte.”
Rowe and Holder, both of Piazza Walk, Aldgate, sat together in the dock as they were sentenced.
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