Life for killer jeweller who knifed partner 86 times

A reclusive jeweller who stabbed his partner to death because he feared she would leave him for a richer man was jailed for 21 years today (tues).

Ian Levy, 55, was found naked covered in blood after knifing synagogue worker Elize Stevens 86 times at his home in Hendon, north London.

Police were called by worried neighbours in Lime Court after they heard the 50-year-old ‘screaming for her life’ saying she had been stabbed before everything went quiet.

She was found in Levy’s hallway with a 20cm kitchen knife and a claw hammer lying by her side.

PC Craig Vincent, who arrested Levy, said: ‘I saw Mr Levy completely naked and covered in blood from the neck down.

‘Literally, I can only describe it as like a movie scene. It was arms, shoulders, body, legs – all completely red. I could also see some blood coming from the top of his head.

‘It was something I have never seen before.’

Levy, who admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, showed no emotion as he was convicted of murder by an Old Bailey jury today.

Jailing him for life and ordering him to serve at least 21 years before he can be considered for parole Judge Richard Foster said: ‘You had in Elize Stevens a person who loved you, cared for you, was planning we heard to move in with you, to share her life with you. She was supporting you, she loved you.

‘You took her life away so savagely and so selfishly. What made you do that terrible act was that toxic mixture of rage, self pitying and resentment.

‘It was a ferocious attack, it was pre-planned attack. It seems you had a sexual relationship the night before or that morning, probably the night before.

‘She was naked, her clothing was neatly folded up in the side. She was vulnerable. You selfishly murdered her because you were concerned she might meet someone better than you.’

Levy had previously attempted suicide in 2016 following the breakdown of a relationship.

He was described as a reclusive loner who believed he could not trust women on the Jewish dating sites he was using.

Ms Stevens, who worked as a welfare officer at the S&P Sephardi Community, came to the UK with her three children from Israel to escape an abusive relationship.

After the death of her father she met Levy, who came to her home as part of a week-long Jewish shiva, mourning ceremony.

‘They seem to have formed or rekindled a relationship,’ said Jane Bickerstaff, QC, prosecuting.

‘The children were unaware of the relationship until September last year. He didn’t really engage or get to know the family – but they knew that they were attending Slimming World together.

Levy killed Ms Stevens on March 3 this year just three days after he was released from psychiatric care.

He gave an ‘impulsive confession’ to multiple health workers weeks later when he said the attack was premeditated.

Ms Bickerstaff added: ‘The fact that Mr Levy did not repress his impulse and did not exhibit self-control does not mean he could not.

‘Did not, is not the same as could not. He makes it clear that this was premeditated, that he was afraid she would meet someone else, “some rich guy”.’

As the synagogue worker lay dead at his feet, Levy moaned to the officer about a minor cut to his own hand.

‘Please do something about my hand,’ he pleaded: ‘Please, my hand’s killing me.’

Levy added: ‘It’s the hospital’s fault. They let me out. They knew I was depressed.’

Levy told an officer how he broke his pelvis during a botched suicide attempt by leaping from the carpark at Brent Cross Shopping Centre.

‘I was damaged from childhood by my parents. That’s where it all starts, isn’t it?’ he added.

He said he felt ‘s**t’ at the time and has ‘been suicidal for years’.

When the officer changed topic remarking that his beloved West Ham were on TV that afternoon ‘which doesn’t happen very often’, Levy replied: ‘I’m a West Ham supporter.

‘I won’t be seeing that, will I?’

His brother Andrew Levy told the court: ‘He couldn’t cope with relationships. Every time he met a girl, he became suicidal’.

The killer’s six-month marriage ended in 1997 because of trust issues and he was sectioned in 2002 after another break-up led him to attempt suicide by leaping from the top of a carpark in Southend, Essex.

He was hospitalised again in 2012 due to relationship difficulties and again in 2015 after a prospective partner rejected him.

Levy, of Great North Way, Hendon, admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility but denied murder.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment and must serve at least 21 years.
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