Woman who murdered partner by stabbing his heart is jailed for life
Woman, 43, who murdered her partner by stabbing him in the heart is jailed for life – as victim’s heartbroken family speak of their devastation
- Joanne Moran, 43, was unanimously found guilty on Wednesday
- Jonathan Gibbons was knifed at the couple’s home in Litherland on October 30
A woman has been jailed for life after stabbing her boyfriend to death through the heart, as the victim’s heartbroken family spoke of their devastation.
Joanne Moran, 43, was unanimously found guilty of murdering Jonathan Gibbons on Wednesday.
The 50-year-old victim was knifed in the heart at the couple’s home on Bridge Road in Litherland, Merseyside in the early hours of October 30 last year.
This afternoon, Ms Moran was handed a life imprisonment with a minimum term of 17 years.
Mr Gibbons’ son Jay wrote a victim personal statement and read it to the court with other members of the victim’s family present.
Joanne Moran (pictured left), 43, was unanimously found guilty of murdering Jonathan Gibbons (pictured right), 50, on Wednesday. Mr Gibbons was knifed in the heart at the couple’s home on Bridge Road in Litherland, Merseyside in the early hours of October 30 last year
He said: ‘I would like to make this victim personal statement on behalf of me and my family with regards to my dad.
‘When we heard the news that my dad had been injured in an incident with Joanne, we were all in total shock.’
Jay said that seeing his father in the hospital attached to machinery ‘waiting for the inevitable’ was extremely difficult.
Jay added that coming to the ‘realisation of the likelihood of the fact that he would die’, made him ‘physically sick’.
He said the entire incident was worsened by the fact that his relationship with his father ‘had broken down due to his relationship with Joanne’, and they had not spoken in several years.
He said: ‘He has a two-year-old granddaughter that he will never meet, and because of this incident with Joanne I will never have the opportunity to introduce her to my dad.’
Jay said Mr Gibbons’ sister, Sandra Lewis, had a ‘much closer relationship’ with him, and that she is heartbroken to never see her younger brother again.
He said: ‘It feels like such a waste of life to be taken away like this.
‘My dad will be forever missed.’
Eleven out of 12 jurors appeared to witness the sentence, and three people remained in support of Ms Moran.
The killer, who wore a black jumper in the dock and sat with her blonde hair tied back in a bun, showed no emotion as the jury’s verdict was delivered after two hours and 53 minutes of deliberations.
Sentencing, the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC said: ‘You and Mr Gibbons had been in a relationship for about six years before that fateful night.
‘For much of that time it was a relatively good relationship but in the early days it was marked by occasional episodes of violence where you attacked Mr Gibbons, scratching his face with your fingernails.
‘Sometimes those attacks left marks on his face, and it is clear from the evidence given during the trial that others who knew you both thought that this was an unhealthy relationship for Jonathan Gibbons.
‘There were times when he hit you, but you readily accepted that this might have been him simply responding to your attacks and in an effort to restrain you.’
He continued: ‘It suggests that you are someone who is prone to or capable of reacting violently to situations and out of proportion to something you perceive as provocation.’
Pictured: Merseyside Police at the scene of the stabbing on Bridge Road, Litherland, on October 30, 2022
Pictured: Police outside the couple’s home. The victim was rushed to hospital at around 4.45am and died later that day
Judge Menary referenced the brief verbal altercation between Mr Gibbons and another male in the house on the night, but said when the witness left ‘that should have been the end of the matter’.
He added: ‘But for some inexplicable reason, you decided to go to the kitchen, pick up a sharp knife, come back through the dining room and into the hallway where you proceeded to stab your partner in the chest.
‘This was clearly a deliberate act and the place you chose to stab him was bound to risk being a fatal injury.
‘As the pathologist said, Mr Gibbons was dying from the time the knife entered his heart.’
A trial previously heard that Moran called the emergency services at around 4.45am on October 30, 2022 to report the stabbing.
The father was immediately rushed to hospital with a stab wound to his chest, but died later in the day.
A cordon was in place around the address in the aftermath of the incident.
Officers carried house-to-house inquiries and secured CCTV footage of the surrounding area.
Ms Moran and Mr Gibbons had been in a relationship since 2016 and had lived at the address for around four years, where they had been playing cards and drinking since 3pm the day before.
The defendant told police: ‘I just stabbed my partner.’ She also repeatedly said: ‘I’m sorry.’
Under interview, Ms Moran admitted to having previously ‘scratched’ her victims during arguments.
She said that Mr Gibbons had not attacked her back and described him as placid, referring to herself as ‘just a cow’.
But the murderer then claimed her boyfriend had assaulted her and given her a black eye on two occasions.
Ms Moran added: ‘I don’t always put my hands on him. If we argue, we argue.
‘But it doesn’t always end up in me assaulting him. I’m not that bad.’
During her trial, Ms Moran maintained that she had ‘moved the knife’ but ‘didn’t go to stab John’.
She said she did not remember picking up the knife and did not intend to stab Mr Gibbons.
Detective Chief Inspector Matt Caton said today: ‘It is pleasing to see that Moran will have plenty of time behind bars to reflect on her actions on that tragic day. Her violent actions led to the death of a man who will be greatly missed by his family and friends.
‘I hope this sentencing brings them some comfort in this very difficult time and that they feel that justice has been served. I would like to take this opportunity to pass my condolences to the family and friends of Mr Gibbons and hope that this sentence will give them a sense of closure and allow them to grieve the loss of a loved one.
‘Domestic abuse is a shocking and reprehensible crime and it is never acceptable, irrespective of who it affects.’
Following the stabbing, tributes flooded in for Mr Gibbons, who was known as John and described as a ‘lovely man who always knew how to have a laugh’.
His friend Stephen Hollinshead said: ‘He was a good friend and a good dad. He always knew how to have a laugh. He was a good uncle as well.
‘He will never be forgotten about I will never forget about all the good times we all spent together. I will miss you – I could not ask for a better friend.’
In a tribute, the victim’s family said: ‘John Gibbons was sadly taken away from us in the most tragic of circumstances.
‘The incident has come as a shock to both us as his family and also to his friends.
‘He will truly be missed by us all. As his family, we are requesting for privacy at this difficult time.’
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