Pregnancy kit killer gets 15 years for murder of his partner

A killer has been jailed for 15 years for stabbing his partner to death half an hour after he made her buy a pregnancy test to prove she was not having a child with another man.

Azaria Williams, 26, suffered 96 stab wounds in a ‘savage attack’ at her home in Clapham, southwest London, on 27 December 2020.

CCTV played in court showed Ms Williams and partner Mark Alexander, 29, in Sainsbury’s buying the test and a pack of cigarettes just 30 minutes before the killing.

Their fatal row flared over the pregnancy indicator and Alexander was to claim she poured the urine sample from the kit over him.

Alexander and Ms Williams had been together since the summer of 2018 but neighbours had often heard them arguing.

Hannah Toumazo, who called police, described in a statement how she and her visiting friend could hear ‘raised voices’ from the upstairs flat from around 8.30pm.

Ms Toumazo turned to her friend Patricia Labella and said: ‘They are arguing again.’

As the two friends settled down to watch TV, the volume and intensity of the arguments increased and Ms Labella said: ‘You need to call the police, he is going to kill her.’

In the 999 call Ms Toumazo told the operator that her female neighbour had been ‘really screaming’.

‘She is screaming “No, no,” she is screaming like she is being attacked,’ she continued.

Officers attended and forced entry and found Ms Williams lying face down in a pool of blood propped up against her front door.

Paramedics attended the scene but were unable to save her life and Ms Williams was pronounced dead a short time after.

As he was being handcuffed and restrained by officers, Alexander told them he had ‘not done anything’.

Asked who was behind the attack, Alexander claimed it was a man called Adrian Thomas.

‘[He is] the person who is sleeping with my ex,’ said Alexander.

‘I woke up and found her like this.’

Judge Sarah Munro, QC, told Alexander that she was sentencing him for murder after the jury rejected his guilty plea to manslaughter by way of diminished responsibility.

‘You have deprived her family and friends of a dearly loved young woman who had her whole life ahead of her.

‘Her parents and one of her sisters are here today and clearly all who knew her are devastated by her loss.’

The couple moved in together in March 2020.

‘She did absolutely all she could to support and help you and she loved you despite your difficulties and the way you treated her on occasion,’ judge Munro said.

‘She even hoped that you and she would marry and have a family together.’

In May 2020, Ms Williams called the domestic abuse helpline and in August moved out into a flat in Clapham, the judge went on.

‘You started falsely to accuse Azaria of cheating on you.

‘On 1 December you head butted Azaria and gave her a black eye having again accused her of cheating on you.

‘This time with a man called Adrian Thomas.

‘By 5 December you had become convinced that you had seen Azaria in a car with Adrian Thomas.’

On 27 December 2020, the couple had an argument.

‘You then went together to Sainsbury’s where you bought pregnancy tests, one of which, on your return, Azaria took to prove to you that she was not pregnant and…to prove thereby that she was not having an affair.

‘Within 35 minutes you had killed her.

‘You stabbed her either 96 or 97 times with at least moderate force and at least once with severe force.

‘The attack was prolonged.

‘There were a large number of defensive wounds suggesting that she was alive and trying to fight you off before she succumbed to blood loss.’

Azaria’s mother, father, and sister wept in the well of the court as the sentence was passed.

Her mother, Karen Downes, spoke of how much she missed her daughter’s smile.

‘When we had a memorial for Azaria…I was approached by three homeless guys.

‘They told me that Azaria always gave them something either a few pounds or something to eat.

‘She used to say money comes and money goes. It’s nice that she gave to people when she could.’

Ms Downes said she had concerns about Alexander when her daughter began to date him.

‘In December 2020 Azaria came to my house with a black eye and told me Mark had done it.

‘I was livid.’

On the day of her daughter’s death, Ms Downes said she woke up with a bad feeling.

‘I think it was a mother’s instinct.

‘I then had a call from a family member who told me that Azaria was dead.

‘I knew it was Mark.

‘I was told that my daughter had been stabbed repeatedly.

‘She must have screamed out for me. She must have screamed out for her mum and her family.’

Alexander had been on anti-psychotic medication since 2008 and experienced a number of psychotic episodes during unmedicated periods, it is said.

His mental health difficulties had been interspersed with offending, with six court appearances for seven separate offences, the court heard.

Evidence is said to have suggested that Alexander stopped taking his medication on 12 December.

In October 2021, he admitted to the psychiatrist that he had killed his girlfriend.

He told them that an argument had developed between them that day in which she criticised his recently deceased grandmother and poured urine from the pregnancy test over him.

James Wood, QC, defending, said that his client’s ‘long standing illness’ affected his behaviour.

Mr Wood also argued that Alexander had not ‘planned’ the attack, but had been triggered by an argument arising from the pregnancy test.

Alexander, of Acre Lane, Brixton, south London, denied, but was convicted of murdering Ms Williams.

He was jailed for life with a minimum term of 15 years.