Maths graduate who stabbed ex-girlfriend to death is jailed for life 

Maths graduate, 25, who murdered his ‘prodigiously-gifted’ ex-girlfriend by inflicting more than 100 injures and 23 stab wounds because he couldn’t accept she’d ended their relationship is jailed for life

  • Joe Atkinson jailed for minimum of 15 years for killing Poppy Devey Waterhouse
  • Atkinson, 25, was ‘fuelled by jealousy’ when he burst into her shared flat in Leeds
  • Victim suffered over 100 injuries, including 49 knife injuries and 23 stab wounds

Joe Atkinson (left) was handed a minimum sentence of 15 years today after pleading guilty to the murder of his ex-girlfriend Poppy Devey Waterhouse (right)

A maths graduate who murdered his ex-girlfriend by stabbing her 49 times in the head and neck as she frantically tried to escape their shared flat has been jailed for life.

Joe Atkinson, 25, was handed a minimum sentence of 15 years today after pleading guilty to the murder of Poppy Devey Waterhouse.

Leeds Crown Court heard how Atkinson was ‘fuelled by jealousy’ when he burst into their shared flat in Leeds and repeatedly stabbed Poppy, 24, on December 14.

Prosecutors explained how the pair had been together for three years by late 2018, but had broken up at the request of Miss Devey Waterhouse, an analyst for William Hill, in October.

The attack took place after Atkinson arrived back from his work Christmas party, with the victim suffering more than 100 separate injuries, including 49 knife injuries and 23 stab wounds all over her body.

In an emotional impact statement, Poppy’s mother Julie Devey said: ‘I kept scraping my hands across the floor boards where she had been left screaming and dying.

‘I just wanted to scoop her up and save her. I now live my life with a split screen, on one half I can see the now, and on the other half that horrific scene.’

Jason Pitter, prosecuting, said: ‘Poppy Devey Waterhouse was a prodigiously talented mathematician, who was described as brilliant and beautiful who, at the age of 24, had her whole life ahead of her.

‘It was a life cruelly taken away from her just before Christmas last year, because this defendant realised he was not going to be a part of this future.’

Joe Atkinson

Poppy Devey Waterhouse

 The attack took place after Atkinson (left)arrived back from his work Christmas party, with the victim (right) suffering more than 100 separate injuries

Miss Devey-Waterhouse achieved 9 A*s and 3 As in her GCSEs, as well as 2 As and 1 A at A-level

Miss Devey-Waterhouse achieved 9 A*s and 3 As in her GCSEs, as well as 2 As and 1 A at A-level

The prosecutor said, to tears from the victim’s family: ‘He had armed himself with a kitchen knife and murdered Poppy in an unprovoked attack fuelled by jealousy.’ 

In January, a coroner heard how paramedics were called to the flat ‘in relation to an assault by stabbing’.

The brief inquest hearing was told that a post-mortem examination revealed that Miss Devey Waterhouse died from ‘head and neck trauma’.

Atkinson pleaded guilty to murdering Miss Devey Waterhouse in a short hearing in packed courtroom last Friday.

Dressed in a blue, crew-necked jumper, the defendant spoke only to confirm his name and to enter his guilty plea to the single charge, watched by many members of his own and his victim’s families.

A number of people in court were in tears but no details of the case were given during the hearing. 

Joe and Poppy had shared a flat together in Leed (police pictured outside the building)

Joe and Poppy had shared a flat together in Leed (police pictured outside the building)

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