Man admits murder of Karen Catherall at Gwernaffield
Man admits murder of Karen Catherall at Gwernaffield
(35 minutes 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.
A 47-year-old man faces a life sentence for murdering a Flintshire woman he met on a dating website.
Mother of two Karen Catherall, 45, was found strangled and with head injuries at her home at Gwernaffield, near Mold.
Mother-of-two Karen Catherall, 45, was found strangled and with head injuries at her home at Gwernaffield, near Mold, on 13 September.
Darren Jeffreys from Mold admitted the murder on 13 September during a hearing at Mold Crown Court.
At the town's crown court on Friday, Darren Jeffreys, from Mold, admitted murder.
A family tribute issued after her death described her as a "loving mother, daughter, sister, aunty and friend".
Ms Catherall's family 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.
The court was told the couple met via the Plenty of Fish dating website a few months previously and started a relationship.
But that date will now be his sentencing hearing after he entered the dock and admitted murdering Ms Catherall.
Just hours after they had been seen drinking in Mold, Ms Catherall's body was found at her home by paramedics who were called to the scene by Jeffreys.
The proceedings started off with the defendant entering seven not guilty pleas to charges of assaulting four ex-partners between 1994 and last year.
He told them his girlfriend had been sleeping and he could not wake her.
They were allowed to remain on the file.
However paramedics found she had been dead for some time.
The murder charge was the last allegation put to him and there were audible gasps from the public gallery when he pleaded guilty.
A post-mortem examination found Ms Catherall died as a result of a blunt force trauma to the head and "mechanical asphyxiation".
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.
Mr Justice Wyn Williams told Jeffreys, to expect a life sentence.
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."
