Teen girl, 19, ‘stabbed her cousin’s boyfriend to death in “murderous rage” after row on night out’
A TEEN girl stabbed her cousin’s boyfriend to death in a “murderous rage” after a row on a night out, a murder trial has heard.
Paige Poulton is on trial accused of killing Jack Cadwallader, 25, at a flat in Harrietsham, Kent, after a “quarrelsome” day last summer.
A court heard the then 19-year-old defendant was staying with her cousin Shannon Byrne when a row erupted with Mr Cadwallader.
Jurors heard Poulton, now 20 and from London, had grown increasingly irritated with her cousin’s boyfriend.
She texted her mum in the days leading up to his death that she would “end up stabbing” him.
In the early hours of July 2 last year, Poulton is said to have punched Mr Cadwallader in the face before plunging a knife into his chest and hiding from police in some bushes.
Poulton denies murder and possessing a bladed article.
Her murder trial, which opened yesterday at Maidstone Crown Court, heard Poulton stabbed her victim within seconds of him arriving at a friend’s flat.
Prosecutor Sarah Jones KC told jurors Poulton had stabbed Mr Cadwallader with “murderous intent”.
The court heard Poulton was staying in Kent with her cousin Ms Byrne – Mr Cadwallader’s girlfriend – last summer, having lost her own accommodation.
The couple had a “stormy” relationship which had grown “particularly fraught” in the hours leading up to his killing, Ms Jones said.
They had met up with others at the Muggleton Inn Wetherspoons pub in Maidstone, Kent, on July 1.
But, following a number of squabbles, Ms Byrne had left the group and joined Poulton, her boyfriend, Clive Harris and another woman called Bibiana Valery after bumping into them in the town centre.
All four caught a train just after 6pm and headed back to Ms Valery’s home in Southfields Way in Harrietsham.
Prosecutors alleged that Poulton had found Mr Cadwallader “increasingly irritating” and, in a message sent to her mum a little over 24 hours before his death, said: “Jack keeps going on imma (sic) end up stabbing the C***.”
Once at Ms Valery’s home, the drinking and socialising continued, with videos uploaded to Snapchat.
Ms Byrne also began contacting various people to find out her boyfriend’s whereabouts and what he was up to.
He, in turn, eventually messaged an acquaintance, Matt Smith, asking for a lift to the flat on Southfields Way.
Mr Smith agreed and, on arriving at the address a short while after 1.30am, Mr Cadwallader jumped out of the car before it had even stopped moving.
Mr Smith told jurors Mr Cadwallader was his “usual hyper self” and as soon as he was in the property, a row flared.
Ms Valery asked “What the f*** are you doing here?” as Ms Byrne complained to Mr Smith for bringing him, knowing he would “kick off”.
It was then that Poulton went straight up to him and punched him in the mouth, causing his lip to bleed.
The court heard that Mr Cadwallader “laughed it off” and that Poulton told him she didn’t like the way he treated her cousin, that he thought he was “something special” and to “get the f*** out”.
As Ms Byrne began to tell everyone to calm down, Mr Cadwallader exchanged words with Poulton’s boyfriend Mr Harris and, having “offered him outside” for a fight, left the flat.
It was then that Poulton allegedly exclaimed she was “going to go f***ing mad”, grabbed a knife from the kitchen and ran back to stand beside her boyfriend at the patio doors.
Mr Cadwallader’s response was to hold up his phone as if recording and say: “She’s got a knife”.
The court heard Ms Byrne, thinking her cousin only wanted to scare him away, told him she didn’t have a knife.
Mr Cadwallader was still outside when he dropped his phone and picked up a metal chair, using the legs to ward off Poulton.
Describing the moment he was allegedly attacked, prosecutor Ms Jones told the court: “She was standing by the double doors on the patio area.
“[Mr Cadwallader] was directing the legs of the chair towards her and Mr Harris.
“Then Ms Byrne saw Ms Poulton stab, with intention, hard into the left side of Mr Cadwallader’s chest.
“She said she did it really quickly but really hard.”
Mr Cadwallader’s response was to put the chair down and appear calm, Ms Jones said.
However, moments later he collapsed on the grass, bleeding to death.
The trial, which is expected to last up to four weeks, continues.