A ‘pure evil’ boyfriend who was branded a ‘baby killer’ today in court has been jailed for life for murdering his heavily pregnant ex-girlfriend and their unborn baby.
Aaron McKenzie, 26, crept into Kelly Fauvrelle’s bedroom in Thornton Heath, south London in the early hours of June 29 last year and stabbed her 21 times after he had found an online receipt for a gift she had bought her new partner.
McKenzie’s son baby Riley was delivered via emergency C-section at the scene – seven weeks before the due date – but died after four days on a ventilator in hospital.
Ms Fauvrelle’s family wept at the Old Bailey today as the jury foreman returned guilty verdicts following just two hours of deliberation.
Her relatives cheered as McKenzie was led away and one family member, believed to be a cousin of the victim shouted: ‘Baby killer’.
Judge Mark Lucraft gave him a life sentence with a minimum term of 35 years and said: ‘As is clear from the course if the trial you made no genuine expression or statement of remorse. The killing of Kelly was particularly violent and extreme’.
‘In the aftermath you destroyed evidence and concealed evidence from police which may implicate you,’ he said, adding: ‘Your post death conduct involved you masquerading as an innocent person.’
Aaron McKenzie crept into Kelly Fauvrelle’s bedroom in south London on June 29 last year and stabbed her 21 times after he had found an online receipt for a gift she had bought her new partner. McKenzie’s son baby Riley was delivered via emergency C-section at the scene – seven weeks before the due date – but died after four days on a ventilator in hospital
Ms Fauvrelle’s mother, sister, and brothers endured hearing details of her terrible final moments and told the court how they tried everything to save her.
After the attack McKenzie took a driving lesson and pretended to the family he was devastated by Ms Fauvrelle’s death.
‘Pure evil’ McKenzie has been jailed for life at the Old Bailey for killing his heavily pregnant ex-girlfriend Kelly Fauvrelle and their baby
But jurors were told he used his intimate knowledge of the house to sneak in through her patio door which she kept open in the evening.
CCTV captured him stalking through the darkened streets before he vanished inside the house.
He left 11 minutes and 20 seconds later and dashed off along the same street in Thornton Heath in South London and off into the distance.
At trial McKenzie invented a killer called ‘Mike’ in an effort to beat the charge after initially confessing to police.
McKenzie told the court he had even extracted a confession out of him.
A statement by Kelly’s father, read by her cousin said: ‘She was robbed of the chance to be a mother to her son Riley.
‘Visions of what he did to my beautiful daughter haunt my dreams.’
Tearfully the cousin added: ‘She was very small in size but had a big heart.
‘The bond between her and her dad was so special. Kelly especially loved children and the whole family was looking forward to watching her becoming a mother.’
Ms Fauvrelle’s family wept at the Old Bailey today as the jury foreman returned guilty verdicts following just two hours of deliberation. Her relatives cheered as McKenzie was led away and one family member, believed to be a cousin of the victim shouted: ‘Baby killer’
CCTV image issued by Crown Prosecution Service of Aaron McKenzie on his way to kill Royal Mail worker Kelly Mary Fauvrelle
Her sister added: ‘I miss her every day. I tried to save her but I couldn’t..
‘I hear her screams most nights. Our sons were going to grow up together, blood brothers we said.
‘It was a horror scene, unimaginable, evil merciless. It was an act of pure evil.’
Prosecutor Duncan Penny told the court: ‘In the early hours of the morning of Saturday 29 June 2019 within a family home in Thornton Heath in South London, Kelly Fauvrelle, a heavily pregnant young woman lay in her bed in the middle of the night.
‘In her womb, she was carrying a little boy, who was later to be named Riley during his very short life. She was 33 weeks pregnant.
‘But when she had gone to bed on the night of Friday 28 June 2019, she had retired to her bedroom whilst all around her, under the same roof, other members of her family slept in the various other bedrooms of the house.
‘Kelly’s bedroom was on the ground floor at the rear of the family house at Raymead Avenue, Thornton Heath.
‘At around 3.15 am that morning, however, an intruder broke into her bedroom through the rear patio doors which formed part of the back wall of her room onto the back garden.
‘That intruder proceeded to launch a vicious and a cowardly attack upon her, inflicting a total of 21 stab wounds with a knife.
After horrifically killing his ex-partner, McKenzie went ahead with his driving lesson as normal. Judge Mark Lucraft gave him a life sentence with a minimum term of 35 years and said: ‘Your post death conduct involved you masquerading as an innocent person.’
At trial McKenzie (depicted in a sketch) invented a killer in an effort to beat the charge after initially confessing to police. McKenzie said he had even extracted a confession out of him
‘In the process the intruder murdered not only Kelly Fauvrelle, but through his attack upon Kelly he killed Riley, the unborn child she was carrying. That intruder was this defendant, Aaron McKenzie.
‘As well as being their killer, the intruder was, in fact, both the former partner of Miss Fauvrelle and the father of Riley, the unborn child.
‘The Crown’s case is that this was a vicious and a deliberate killing – perhaps you will conclude in due course the cowardly response of a man desperately jealous about the fact that the mother of his child yet to be born had moved on and now wanted very little to do with him.
‘Whilst the motivation of this defendant may remain unclear at the conclusion of this trial, what he did that night and what he intended in that attack most certainly does not.’
Ms Fauvrelle was in a relationship with McKenzie but left him in February last year, the Old Bailey heard.
McKenzie, of south London, denied murder, manslaughter and possession of an offensive weapon.
He was convicted of murder and was jailed for life with a minimum of 35 years.