Cannock woman jailed for life for murdering her ex-partner on Christmas Day

A woman from Cannock who stabbed her ex-partner in the heart on Christmas Day has been handed a life sentence. She will have to serve a minimum term of 25 years in prison.

Kirsty Carless, aged 33, killed 31-year-old Louis Price the early hours of December 25th 2024, in an attack "motivated by anger and jealousy and fuelled by cocaine and alcohol" after a friend sent her a picture of his Tinder profile, Stafford Crown Court heard.

On Wednesday (30th July), after around a day of deliberation, a jury of seven men and five women found her guilty of murder and possession of an offensive weapon by unanimous verdicts in relation to the fatal stabbing.

She was also found guilty of assault occasioning actual bodily harm by a majority of 11 to one in connection with an incident in November 2024.

She was cleared of intentional strangulation in relation to the same incident.

The trial was told Carless, of Haling Way in Cannock, Staffordshire, had been at the pub drinking double vodka and cokes with a male friend on Christmas Eve.

Carless got a taxi to Mr Price's parents' address in Elm Road, Norton Canes, where she expected to find him with a woman.

CCTV showed her running up the front path into the house and then "stalking" him around the garden before he was later found with a single stab wound to the chest on the conservatory floor.

Father-of-six Mr Price had been considered by police to be "at very high risk of domestic abuse" and Carless was on police bail at the time of the fatal stabbing after strangling Mr Price on November 11 2024.

In her evidence to the trial, Carless said she had no recollection of stabbing him, was "not a violent person" and had only gone to Mr Price's address as she believed he had taken money from inside a card she had in her home.

She said she picked up a knife with the intent to destroy the caravan he was staying in in his parents' back garden and had "panicked" after Mr Price was stabbed and fled.

Sentencing her on Thursday in front of a packed public gallery, Judge Mr Justice Choudhury said Carless, of Haling Way in Cannock, Staffordshire, had "destroyed the life of a young man and his family" when she fatally attacked him at his parents' home.

Carless showed no reaction in the dock as Mr Justice Choudhury passed his sentence.

He said the defendant had shown "no remorse" for what she had done and instead falsely claimed she could not remember what had happened.

The judge paid tribute to the "dignity" of Mr Price's family, who all wore "Justice for Louis" T-shirts as they watched the sentencing.

In a victim impact statement, Mr Price's mother Eleanor said her son had been "murdered by the woman he loved" and described him as a "funny, beautiful man".

She said: "Our hearts have been ripped apart. I brought Louis into this world and I should have left before him.

"Every minute of every day, I think about my boy. He was no angel, but thanks to Kirsty, he's now my angel.

"It is thanks to Kirsty that his children no longer have a dad. How can we ever get over something like this? We never will."

Mr Price's father Graham described him as "my son, my fishing buddy, my best friend" and said his life had been taken by an "act of evil".

He said: "Louis lost his life, she took it from him. We will never forget Louis or forgive what has happened to him."

As Carless had been on police bail for assaulting Mr Price at the time of the fatal stabbing, Staffordshire Police made a referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, who decided not to investigate and the case was passed back to the force's professional standards department.

In a statement, Staffordshire Police said: "A number of positive actions were taken to mitigate the risks identified, which included arresting Kirsty Carless, imposing bail conditions to prevent her from having further contact with Louis Price, them living at separate addresses, and the submission of a public protection notice for consideration at a multi-agency risk assessment conference.

"No misconduct or learning was identified and officers updated Louis's father and explained the decision."

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