This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-30549726
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
Version 0 | Version 1 |
---|---|
Man admits murder of Karen Catherall at Gwernaffield | Man admits murder of Karen Catherall at Gwernaffield |
(about 1 hour later) | |
A 47-year-old man faces a life sentence after pleading guilty to the murder of a Flintshire woman he met on a dating website a few months earlier. | |
Mother of two Karen Catherall, 45, was found strangled and with head injuries at her home at Gwernaffield, near Mold. | |
Darren Jeffreys from Mold admitted the murder on 13 September during a hearing at Mold Crown Court. | |
A family tribute issued after her death described her as a "loving mother, daughter, sister, aunty and friend". | A family tribute issued after her death described her as a "loving mother, daughter, sister, aunty and friend". |
Jeffreys was due to attend a plea and directions hearing at the court on Friday where it was widely expected that he would deny the offence as trial date had already been fixed for February 24. | |
But that date will now be his sentencing hearing after he entered the dock and admitted murdering Ms Catherall. | |
The proceedings started off with the defendant entering seven not guilty pleas to charges of assaulting four ex-partners between 1994 and last year. | |
They were allowed to remain on the file. | |
The murder charge was the last allegation put to him and there were audible gasps from the public gallery when he pleaded guilty. | |
The court was told that the couple met via the Plenty of Fish dating website and started a relationship a few months before her death. | |
The day before her body was found the couple had been seen drinking in Mold. | |
Her body was found at her home following an early morning emergency call from the defendant. | |
He claimed that he believed that she had been sleeping but that he was unable to wake her up. | |
But paramedics found that she had been dead for some time. | |
A post mortem examination was carried out and the cause of death was found to be blunt force trauma to the head and "mechanical asphyxiation". | |
Mr Justice Wyn Williams, who conducted the hearing via a live television link, told Jeffreys: "You will appreciate that I must impose upon you a life sentence." |