Woman's texts predicted killer boyfriend's actions days before she died

Rebekah Campbell, 32, was murdered by her partner Michael Ormandy, 34, after he bursted into her home wearing a bullet proof vest. He has been jailed following the attack

View 3 Images

A frightened woman who was stabbed to death by her "possessive" boyfriend was living in fear just before her death, a court has heard.

Michael Ormandy, who has the words 'The Hitman' tattoed on his neck, brutally killed his partner Rebekah Campbell, 32, inside her flat at Knowsley Heights in Huyton, Liverpool, in April this year. In the days before her death, she messaged him and said: "I don’t wanna know what you would do behind closed doors."

Rebekah was knifed 27 times and collapsed as she begged for help outside of the block of flats. The victim is said to have called “get out, go away Mick” as Ormandy, 34, stormed into her property in a bulletproof vest. Liverpool Crown Court heard how he had previously left her with a black eye after punching her during a night out in the city centre.

The court shared a string of text exchanges between the couple in the lead up to the fatal stabbing. With the texts beginning in the early hours of April 13. In one text, Ms Campbell said she was "getting called a slut and slag all night", adding: "I want to go home to my bed. I don't want to see you. I'm scared of you now. I don't wanna know what you would do to me behind closed doors."

View 3 Images

David McLachlan KC, prosecuting, told the court last week that Ms Campbell was home at her flat at around 10.30pm on April 15, when Ormandy attended her address. Faye Henderson, who was speaking to Rebekah on the phone at the same time, reported that her friend shouted "go away, get out Mick" before she heard a "loud bang" and the sound of puppies barking, at which stage the line "went quiet".

Ormandy was then captured on CCTV leaving the building again as Ms Campbell exited her apartment shouting "I've been stabbed". Having collapsed outside, she then told neighbours who rushed to her aid: "My fella stabbed me." While later being transported to Aintree Hospital in an ambulance, Ms Campbell asked emergency service workers "am I gonna die?" Although one police officer reassured her that she was "hurt but in the best place". She died in the early hours of April 16.

The incident was said to have come against the backdrop of a relationship which "wasn't going well", with Ms Campbell being apparently "ready to end it". Within two hours of the stabbing, Ormandy went on to call police and stated: “The police are at my flat now. If they touch my dogs, I'm going to start killing police officers, one by one. I'm going to start shooting if anything happens to my dogs. My dogs are my babies.

View 3 Images

“I promise on my kid’s life. I've got a suicide vest and I'll blow everyone up. I've got nothing to lose now. Yous couldn't do your f***ing job, now look what happens. I'm the bad guy because of the world we live in. It's a f***ing joke. I'm gonna blow myself up. I'm gonna blow everyone up if anyone goes near my f***ing dogs. I've got a suicide vest on. I'm going to kill everyone. I promise, I will kill yous all. My dogs are my babies. I will kill for them.”

Following his arrest on a canal towpath by armed officers, Ormandy remarked that "this wouldn’t have happened if you did your job last week", reports Liverpool Echo. His mobile phone was subsequently recovered from the water after he apparently "tried to ditch" the device. Having been told at this stage that Ms Campbell had been stabbed an estimated 20 times, Ormandy replied: “20 times? There’s no way. She must have stabbed herself. As soon as I walked in, she started attacking me. She had the knife ready. She can't have been stabbed 20 times. No, that's not even possible."

But a Home Office post mortem investigation subsequently revealed that Ms Campbell had indeed sustained a total of 27 "incised wounds" during a "sustained, violent assault", comprising of 18 stab wounds and nine slash wounds which were "concentrated on the left side of the body". A pathologist found that this was "in keeping with the use of severe force", with injuries on her left arm also said to be "indicative of defence injuries as she tried to fend off an attack".

Ormandy was unanimously convicted of Ms Campbell's murder on Wednesday. He returned to the court the following day to be handed a life sentence with a minimum of 24 years behind bars.