Son who stabbed his own mum through heart in fight with another man jailed for 19 years

A man who fatally stabbed his own mum through the heart while fighting with another man has been jailed for 19 years.

Jamie Dempsey, 32, had been cleared on Monday of murdering his mum, Karen Dempsey - known on Merseyside as “a community champion” - but, on Wednesday, the jury convicted him of manslaughter.

Liverpool Crown Court heard how he had plunged the knife into the chest of his 55-year-old mum while she was trying to separate her son and a man called Brian Flynn, and it penetrated right the way through her heart and out the other side ending up 1.5 cm into her liver.

Jailing Dempsey, who showed no emotion, Judge Denis Watson, KC said: “If you had thought for a moment about your mums’ wish to stop you, you would have realised that if you took the fight to him, she would try to intervene.”

He said that as he tried to stab Mr Flynn yet again, “it seems you were off balance, you missed him but your momentum turned 90 degrees or more and your knife plunged into your mothers chest.”

“I accept that you never had any intent to do harm to your mother. The fight and your pride was your ultimate priority and saving face was all that mattered.

“Similarly I have no doubt that you regret killing your mother and you will do all of your life. However, your remorse stops there, as you sought to justify your actions as self defence, and claimed that you only picked up the knife for that purpose.

“The simple fact is that your decision to bring a knife and use it caused her death,” said Judge Watson.

The court had heard how Dempsey, of Brechin Road, Kirkby, who had not realised the seriousness of her injury, hugged his mum and then fled the scene by the Brambles public house in Kirkby.

During the incident, on August 22 last year Dempsey also repeatedly stabbed Mr Flynn, who had earlier glassed him in the pub over a £2000 drug debt, said Peter Glenser, KC, prosecuting.

Mr Flynn was stopped by police nearby and arrested. He was taken to hospital after suffering significant injuries including a punctured lung, with the most serious stab wound being delivered to his left armpit.

After fleeing Dempsey walked to his aunt’s house and told her there had “been a fight and he had stabbed his mother”. He took off his clothing and asked his cousin to burn it, although this did not happen.

He then went to an off-licence and bought cans of beer. He later phoned Merseyside Police to tell them where he was and that he was wanted, not yet knowing that he had killed his mum. During this call, he said he had used a piece of glass and not a knife during the incident and said it was self-defence.

After learning of his mother’s death, Dempsey changed his account and said he had found a knife by the back door of the pub after the initial altercation in the pub with Mr Flynn.

The jury cleared him of causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Mr Flynn but found him guilty of the lesser charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm and also of possessing a knife.

Medics at Aintree Hospital fought to save the life of Karen Dempsey, who collapsed shortly after the attack, but she was declared dead just over an hour after arriving there.

Dempsey told the court that he regretted stabbing his mum “more than anything in the world.” He said that after stabbing her, “She just grabbed me and said ‘Jamie you stabbed me’.

“I said ‘mum, I’m sorry’. She said ‘you’re just a divvy lad, it would happen to you’. I gave her a hug and she said to leave. She told me to leave and get away from there.”

Dempsey said: “She was my rock, she was the only person in the world that’s been there all my life - my best friend to be honest with you. I loved her more than anything. Absolutely brilliant she was, best in the world.”

In an impact statement the victim’s partner Alan James Thompson stated: “My world has changed forever. The pain is unbearable and to see the same pain in the eyes of Karen’s family and close friends is too much to bear.

“Her zest for life was contagious, she made people smile with her optimistic spirit and always seeing the good in people. I feel like a ship lost at sea with no direction. Karen was the wind that blew me along and motivated me every single day.”

Karen’s sister Lynn Dempsey read her moving statement to the court in which she said “It is very hard to accept and comprehend that she is gone from our lives forever. The pain is immense when I think of how she died in such a horrendous way.”

She continued, “The outpouring of grief from the community of Kirkby was a testament to how much Karen touched people’s lives.

“I am stopped almost everyday by people that are visibly upset, who are showing their condolences and trying to comprehend what happened and how Karen is no longer with us. I have received hundreds of messages on social media, to share sorrow or happy memories of Karen.”

Timothy Cray, KC, defending, said that the defendant wanted to express through him his remorse.

“He is aware not only that he has caused the death of his mother, but he has also caused almost unquantifiable grief to those that loved her, as has been movingly expressed this morning.”

After the victim’s death her family described her as “beautiful, vivacious and compassionate woman”.

She worked at the Kirkby Unemployed Centre helping the community and after it closed she and her sister set up their own welfare rights service. She also joined a benefit, debt and IT advice charity in Skelmersdale.