Stephan Garner has admitted killing Amber O’Brien, who was expecting twins, but denies murder and is expected to claim he lost control.
A court has heard that Amber O’Brien, 33, who was pregnant with twins, was stabbed more than 60 times by her partner, Stephan Garner, 31. Ms O’Brien was found dead on the bathroom floor of Garner’s eighth-floor flat in Blackley, north Manchester, on 19 April. Garner has admitted killing her at Manchester Crown Court but denies murder. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and the trial, expected to last seven days, continues.
The prosecution case
Opening the case, Nigel Power KC said: “How Amber died, only the defendant who is alive can say.” He told jurors she had been “stabbed repeatedly in the neck and face”, and that the pathologist recorded “more than 60 separate stab, incised and puncture wounds – 32 of them to her face and neck”.
Ms O’Brien was found “cold to the touch”, naked and covered with a blue tarpaulin, lying in “pools of water”. The court heard she was nine weeks pregnant with twins fathered by Garner. Prosecutors say he killed her in the early hours of 18 April after an argument.
Mr Power said Garner then “spent the next day and a half stripping her, washing her body, bleaching his flat, bagging up her bloodstained clothing, destroying her telephone and getting rid of his own, before the truth caught up with him”. Garner allegedly told a relative he had been “cleaning up” the bathroom after buying bleach and scouring sponges from Poundland.
Police forced their way into the flat just after 6pm the next day, after Garner allegedly told his cousin he had “stabbed her in the neck twice”. Officers noticed an “overpowering smell of bleach”, jurors heard. Garner told police: “She had been threatening me.” He was interviewed twice and made no comment on both occasions, prosecutors said. He was arrested at about 7pm on 19 April.
The relationship
The couple had been together for about three months. Ms O’Brien told her brother they “argued a lot over silly things” and that she was “unhappy about his mood swings”. Two weeks before her death, she told him of Garner: “Something ain’t fitting with me.”
The court heard of a “running dispute” over Ms O’Brien’s flat in Middleton. Garner wanted her to give it up and move in with him, but she felt “pressured”. She moved into the Blackley flat three weeks before her death.
In the early hours of 18 April, she called her brother and said: “I can’t stand him, I’m not staying here.” She left the flat but later returned with Garner, jurors were told.
The defence
Garner is expected to say he did not intend to cause serious bodily harm and that he lost control. He is expected to allege that he tried to leave the flat in the early hours of 18 April, but that Ms O’Brien punched him, was holding a knife, and told him the “babies had been aborted”.
Mr Power said the “friction was not all one way in the relationship” and that Ms O’Brien could be heard threatening Garner on an audio recording. Prosecutors argue this “doesn’t come anywhere close” to justifying his actions.
The legal questions
An admission of manslaughter does not settle the murder charge. To convict of murder, the prosecution must prove an intention to kill or cause really serious harm. The number of wounds is relevant to that argument but does not decide the verdict.
Loss of control is a partial defence under sections 54 and 55 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. It requires a loss of self-control arising from a qualifying trigger, and that a person of the defendant’s age and sex, with ordinary tolerance and self-restraint, might have reacted similarly. The loss of control need not be sudden, but the defence is unavailable where the killing was a considered act of revenge. If it is properly raised, the prosecution must disprove it beyond reasonable doubt. An argument between partners, or an allegation of threats, does not automatically establish it.
Charge and family tribute
Greater Manchester Police said on 22 April that Garner, of Somerton Court, Blackley, had been charged with murder and remanded in custody. The force’s early statements referred to an incident at Broadmoss Drive in Blackley on Sunday 19 April, described as a disturbance, and did not mention that she was pregnant with twins.
In a statement issued through Greater Manchester Police, Ms O’Brien’s family said: “We are deeply saddened by the loss of Amber. Her passing has left us devastated, and she will be fondly remembered by all who had the privilege of knowing her. Amber was known for her warm smile and her natural ability to lift others up. She had a truly kind heart and made everyone around her feel valued and appreciated.”
They added: “She was a devoted daughter and sister and a beautiful soul whose bright spirit brought joy, laughter, and comfort wherever she went. Our hearts are broken. Amber’s memory will live on with us forever.”
