Boyfriend gets life for frenzied knife murder

A BOYFRIEND who knifed to death his partner in a drunken rage has been sentenced to life imprisonment for her murder.

A judge yesterday told Gavin Sartain, 31, that he would have a serve a minimum for 12 years before being considered for release by the Parole Board.

Sartain pleaded guilty to murdering Michelle Suttle, 23, in a frenzied attack at their home in Baker Street, Huddersfield, in June.

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Bradford Crown Court heard how Miss Suttle suffered nearly 40 knife wounds when Sartain attacked her in the hallway.

Officers had gone to the property after Sartain himself called the emergency services saying he had stabbed his partner.

“I just went nuts,” he told police. “I deserve to die.”

The couple’s relationship had been marred by violence and arguments. Prosecutor Jonathan Sharp said Miss Suttle had been admitted to hospital on four previous occasions but did not want anything done about those matters.

A neighbour described the pair as a nice couple when sober.

The couple had been drinking the night before and a neighbour estimated they had drunk two bottles of vodka between them.

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They returned home around midnight and the violence between them turned lethal.

Judge Peter Benson said it seemed obvious from the number and distribution of the stab wounds to Miss Suttle’s body that in his drink-fuelled rage Sartain had subjected his partner to a vicious attack in which he must have intended to kill her.

The judge accepted as genuine Sartain’s expression of deep regret for the pain and misery he had caused Michelle’s family by taking from them a much-loved and admired young woman.

“The sympathy and thoughts of this court go out to Michelle’s family in this time of great grief,’’ the judge said.

“This wholly pointless waste of a promising young life must bear very deeply upon them and no sentence I can pass upon you will be adequate to reflect their loss.’’

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