Mum and two children jailed for life for ‘revenge’ murder of relative

A mum and her two children have all been convicted of murdering a relative who was knifed through the heart on his own doorstep.

Joanne Maxwell, 44, her son Liam Donlin, 25, and daughter Amie Clegg, 22, ‘worked as a team’ to plot the ‘revenge’ stabbing of Paul Scott, 37, in Blackburn last June.

The judge described Maxwell as the ‘vengeful matriarch’ who masterminded the ambush over a perceived sleight stemming from a brawl at Amie’s 21st birthday party the previous year.

During the row, Maxwell and her partner had fought with a man called Charlie Elliott, who was at the gathering with Mr Scott.

In the months that followed, Maxwell made several threats towards the pair, with Mr Scott telling his niece he believed the threats against him would be carried out.

‘They’re going to get me,’ he said. ‘You wait – they’re going to get me.’

The judge, Mr Justice Bryan said: ‘The death of Paul Scott is a needless tragedy over a very trivial sleight.

‘The lifelong impact on all Paul’s family is vividly shown in the moving victim impact statements read in court.

‘It is clear Paul was a kind, compassionate man with his whole life ahead of him. As a result of your truly cruel and evil actions he will never have the opportunity of having a wife or children or growing old in the company of those who loved him.

‘It has left a lifelong hole in so many family members.’

During their trial, jurors heard Maxwell and Clegg had been out drinking in Blackburn on June 21 last year.

They later met up with Donlin, who had not long been released from prison and was out dealing drugs that night, and all of them took a cab together back to the family home in Darwen, Lancashire.

The driver who took them home later described hearing Donlin saying ‘this lad’s gonna get it’ and ‘I’m gonna teach him a lesson that he’s never gonna forget’.

He said he also heard Maxwell egging him on, saying: ‘You know we need to sort this out tonight, yeah, and it has to be sorted out tonight.’

The driver described Donlin ‘getting charged up in a bad way’, with the two women ‘encouraging him to do something and not calming him down’.

When they got home, the trio took four of the five kitchen knives from the block and went to Mr Scott’s home.

Clegg, who was friendly with Mr Scott, lured him to the front door and filmed the approach on her brother’s phone. 

As he answered the door, bare chested, Donlin plunged a 20cm kitchen knife into his chest, penetrating his heart.

All three denied murder, with Donlin claiming he had only intended to threaten Mr Scott when he went armed with a knife. 

Maxwell and Clegg gave no comment when interviewed by police and did not give evidence at their trial.

But after just three hours of deliberations the jury found all three guilty of murder and the two women guilty of possession of a bladed article – a charge Donlin had admitted earlier.

All three were jailed for life, with Maxwell, Donlin and Clegg handed minimum terms of 23 years, 26 years and 20 years respectively.

Mr Justice Bryan, said: ‘Joanne, you were the slighted, and vengeful, matriarch who bears responsibility for encouraging your own son and daughter to go with you to Peridot Close, armed with knives, to exact revenge upon Paul Scott for what was, in reality, a trivial perceived slight, which you had allowed to fester and grow, culminating in the fatal events on the night in question.

‘What you should have done, as a mature woman, when you were out with your daughter and met up with your son, was diffuse the situation, go home, and sleep off whatever feelings you had.

‘Far from doing so, you were instrumental in the attack taking place.’

To Maxwell and Clegg, he added: ‘I am satisfied that your intention Amie and Joanne was not that Paul be killed, but that he be “chopped up” and caused serious bodily harm with a knife.’

The judge said similar submissions had been made on Donlin’s behalf.

But he told Donlin: ‘I am sure that you did intend to kill Paul Scott when you thrust a 20cm bladed kitchen knife into the left side of his chest where his heart lay, that being very much more than the foreseeable consequence of your actions.’

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