An alcoholic businessman who murdered his frail mother after she criticised his drinking and poor running of the family furniture firm has been jailed for life.
Last June Mark Stephens, 44, fatally stabbed his 67-year-old mother Rita Stephens in the head and face with a carving knife and carving fork at the home they shared in Tonteg, Pencoed, Bridgend.
Divorced Stephens had earlier been in a pub drinking pints and double vodkas where he described his mother as “the epitome of evil” – even though just 11 days earlier she’d allowed him to live with her as his life collapsed due to his drinking.
Claimed mother 'was sick'
Swansea Crown Court heard Stephens began drinking heavily after his marriage collapsed and before he moved in with his mother he was sleeping at the family’s furniture factory in Bridgend.
After murdering his mother on the evening of Friday, June 19, last year and placing a blanket over her body Stephens fell asleep, waking up the next morning to go out and get himself some food and a bottle of whisky.
When his sister Kirsty later rang worried she could not contact their mother by phone Stephens told her she was “sick in the toilet”.
At Swansea Crown Court earlier this year Stephens admitted the manslaughter of his mother, who suffered 38 injuries when she was attacked, but denied murder on the grounds of loss of self-control, blaming his mother’s criticism of him including withering texts to family members about his behaviour and business acumen.
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The jury failed to reach a verdict but after a retrial at the same court a second jury has now convicted him of murder unanimously.
And it emerged that three years before the murder, in 2012, Stephens had brandished a knife at his ex-wife making her fear for her safety and was given a suspended jail sentence.
After being arrested at his home by police who discovered his mother’s body Stephens had tried to claim his mother, who weighed just over five stones, was the aggressor.
But sentencing Stephens to life in prison with a recommendation he serve at least 20 year, retrial judge Mr Justice David Holgate told him: “You have shown only self pity for the situation you have found yourself in.
'Despicable'
“From your evidence in court it’s plain you still show no remorse at all for for having killed your mother.
“For example you were asked by your leading counsel ‘How do you feel now about killing your mother?’
“Your answer was revealing: ‘I have accepted it. I know it is something I have to deal with.’
“After thinking about yourself first only then did you refer to your mother by adding: ‘My mother did not deserve it. I do not forgive myself.’
“This is in line with your despicable attempt to exculpate yourself by saying your mother had been the aggressor.”
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Opening the case Roger Thomas QC told the jury: “During the late evening of June 19 last year Mrs Rita Stephens was viciously and brutally murdered in her own home in Tonteg, Pencoed, Bridgend, by her son.
“There’s no dispute he’s the person who killed her. However he denies murder, admitting manslaughter, but the prosecution does not accept it.”
Mr Thomas said after Stephens separated from his wife in 2012 he lived in Bryn, Port Talbot, later “living rough” in the family furniture firm.
He said Stephens’ family claimed he was often drunk and walked around “in a top and his underpants”.
And Mr Thomas added there was “friction” between Stephens and his mother over his drinking and over the fortunes of the family furniture firm.
He said: “Mrs Stephens was a widow, a small, frail lady who was five foot two inches tall and weighed five stones and until 2011 lived with her husband Ray and for many years they ran a successful furniture manufacturing business.
“They had four children, twins Mark and Martin, and Karl and Kirsty who are 10 years younger.
“In 2015 Karl took an overdose and died, the death of her husband and son deeply affecting Mrs Stephens.”
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'United in grief for loss of beautiful person'
The court heard on the evening of June 19 Stephens went for a drink in the Britannia pub in Pencoed with his brother Martin.
He said: “The defendant said he had never been close to his mother and was describing her as the epitome of evil.”
Following the case a statement issued by the Stephens family said: “We thank the police and CPS for their conduct and diligence and their absolute belief murder was the only acceptable judgement.
“Rita was our mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, sister and aunt.
“She was a matriarch of the family and we will not allow the tragedy that has befallen us to break our family spirit. The family are united in grief for the loss of a beautiful person.”
see-http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/failed-businessman-who-brutally-murdered-11207749
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