Woman killed lover after row over burger
A mother-of-three who stabbed her lover to death in the UK in a row over garlic mayonnaise in her chicken burger was jailed today for four years.
Julie Yates, 32, was cleared of murder but convicted of manslaughter by a majority 10-2 verdict at Nottingham Crown Court.
The court heard that Yates, of Reynard Street, Spilsby, Lincolnshire, attacked her 25-year-old boyfriend Ian Bourne after he grabbed her around her neck during a row they had over the takeaway food.
She stabbed him through the heart and lungs but told jurors she had acted in self-defence.
Mr Justice Gibbs told her: “This case is a tragedy for Ian Bourne, for his family and friends and a young life has been lost.
“You stabbed him with a knife and knew it was a knife but you did so on the spur of the moment in the course of a highly emotional argument.”
Detective Sergeant Lorraine Bradley, of Lincolnshire Police, told the court Yates and Mr Bourne had been drinking in the Angel pub, Wainfleet, Lincs, in January this year.
On their way home they stopped at a takeaway restaurant and Mr Bourne bought her a chicken burger containing garlic mayonnaise which she did not want.
The row continued when they arrived home, culminating in barmaid Yates telling her boyfriend to pack his bags and leave the house they shared.
“We went into the kitchen and he got me round my jumper. He pushed me backwards on to the draining board,” Yates told police.
The court heard she grabbed a knife while he held her around the throat and stabbed the lorry driver.
Yates told jurors Mr Bourne fell back against the wall after being stabbed and said: “Phone an ambulance. My lung is filling with blood.”
She said she panicked and washed the four-inch blade before putting it in a bag in the bathroom.
Jurors were told she was not aware she had taken hold of a knife.
“It could just as easily have been a saucepan,” Yates said in evidence.
Peter Kelson QC, defending, said Yates had been suffering from pre-menstrual tension at the time of the killing.
