Women given 12 years for murder

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/england/leicestershire/7330518.stm

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A teenage mother who killed the father of her child will serve at least 12 years in prison for murder.

Dimple Scaife, 18, of Bede Island, Leicester, killed Jake Mackay, 19, in a Leicester street in December 2006 after finding out he was seeing another girl.

Scaife was found guilty of murder in January and told she would be jailed. Judge John Milmo QC has ruled she must serve a minimum of 12 years.

Leicester Crown Court heard Scaife killed Mr Mackay with a kitchen knife.

Scaife, then aged 17, had gone to meet her ex-partner's new girlfriend after speaking to her on the phone.

When the girlfriend did not show up, the defendant went to look for the father of their 18-month-old son, finding Mr Mackay yards from a police station, before attacking him.

The fatal wound through the victim's heart was 11cm (4in) deep, the court heard. He also sustained two less serious wounds to his shoulder.

Jake Mackay was stabbed with a kitchen knife

Scaife denied murder, saying she was provoked and acted in self-defence, but a jury unanimously found her guilty.

While handing out Scaife's sentence, Judge Milmo warned young people about the dangers of knife crime.

"The sad reality is that if you carry a knife, there is the real danger that the pettiest of teenage disputes can all too quickly turn into a tragedy.

"To take a knife, even for protection, is fraught with danger; trouble erupts, the knife comes out and what would otherwise have been a fight with fists, turns into a fatal attack which is precisely what happened here."