A warehouse worker stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death in a frenzied attack in a shopping centre car park after begging her not to break up with him, a court heard.
Joshua Stimpson met 23-year-old student Molly McLaren on Tinder and they dated for seven months until things turned sour and she ended the relationship, Maidstone Crown Court was told.
Just two weeks later he bought a kitchen knife and attacked the university student in her car after she left a gym in Chatham, Kent, a jury was told.
Stimpson, pictured with Molly, has admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility but will be tried for murder
Miss McLaren died from stab wounds in the car park of Chatham Dockside Outlet in Kent
The 26-year-old admits manslaughter but denies murder – a plea not accepted by prosecutors.
The court heard Miss McLaren went to Pure Gym in Chatham on June 29, in the same shopping complex, having parked in the nearby car park.
Stimpson also arrived, to which Molly asked: ‘Are you following me now?’.
Mr Bennetts said she also sent a text to her mother, Joanne, at 10.45am saying ‘Mum he’s turned up at the gym and come next to me’.
In a subsequent phone call Mrs McLaren told her daughter to go straight to the family home in Cobham, near Gravesend.
The court heard Molly also sent a WhatsApp message to a group of friends at 11.02am saying ‘Feel like I’m f***ing looking over my shoulder all the time’.
The court heard Miss McLaren feared Stimpson was following her after they split up last year
Stimpson, wearing a blue suit, shirt and tie, sat impassively in the dock while the case was opened.
Prosecutor Philip Bennetts QC told the jury: ‘There is no dispute that he killed Molly McLaren. In certain circumstances, the charge of murder can be reduced to manslaughter. In this case the defence will assert that it should be.
‘The defendant has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Molly McLaren.
‘The plea is on the basis that at the time of the killing, Joshua Stimpson was suffering from diminished responsibility.
‘The prosecution does not accept that he was.’
The trial continues.
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