Final insult from mum, 47, after she brutally stabbed boyfriend, 24, in heart

05 October 2023 , 09:40

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Natalie Bennett is facing life in prison (Image: Liverpool echo)

A mum-of-four who stabbed her boyfriend in the heart "deliberately set out to discredit him" by calling him a violent abuser after the frenzied attack.

Natalie Bennett, 47, has been convicted of murder after she ruthlessly knifed Kasey Anderson, 24, in the chest on March 11. When officers arrived at the scene, she told them that he had turned up at her home in Croxteth, Liverpool "like that." But shocking footage from her neighbour's Ring doorbell camera showed Mr Anderson clutching his chest and collapsing on the floor as he begged for help outside her neighbour's house at Carr Lane East.

Richard Pratt KC, prosecuting, described the footage to Liverpool Crown Court and said Bennett was "holding a knife to the head of the distraught and injured Mr Anderson" with her right hand and "using it either to strike Kasey Anderson in the head or at the very least hold it close to his head."

Kasey Anderson pleaded for help outside Bennett's neighbour's house (Liverpool Echo)

Natalie Bennett fatally stabbed Kasey Anderson (Liverpool Echo)

He added: "Thus, we suggest, she continued to demonstrate hostility towards him even after she must have known she had stabbed him in the chest." Mr Anderson was rushed to Aintree Hospital and underwent emergency surgery but sadly died 20 days later, just a week before his 25th birthday, reports Liverpool Echo. During evidence she presented at Liverpool Crown Court, Bennet tried to "besmirch his character" and labelled him as a drug dealer in an attempt to "justify what she did."

The remorseless murderer said their relationship had first begun when Mr Anderson was aged around 20 after he "came to her home selling cocaine to her mate", having previously known him as a child through being friendly with his family. But Bennett claimed that he would "flip" and be "very paranoid", causing him to "go nuts".

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She recounted several stories where he had allegedly assaulted her, including by throwing a mobile phone at her and pushing her down the stairs, but denied any allegations that she had hurt him previously - despite his family members reporting that she had left him "looking like the Elephant Man" on one occasion and stabbed him in the head on another.

Police rushed to the scene on March 11 (Liverpool Echo)

Following the final incident, under cross-examination, she fell back on having a poor memory of events but maintained that she had only struck out once with the knife. This was despite Mr Anderson having suffered at least two stab wounds and several slash wounds. She claimed a row had erupted after he had allegedly been "smoking crack cocaine in the baby's bedroom" - a reference to her 19-year-old son's room. The mum-of-four claimed that a violent altercation followed, during which he "grabbed her by the head" and "scragged her down the side of the bed".

She said she had sought to protect herself with a screwdriver - an implement later found by police soaking in water in the kitchen sink, alongside a broken knife - which had been used to affix new blinds in the freshly decorated bedroom, but that the incident had continued downstairs when Mr Anderson had pulled a clump of her hair out and apparently "put his fingers in her eyes". The arrival of her friend Claire Smith was then said to have angered him further, and he supposedly kicked her in the stomach and caused her to wet herself.

Bennett said she was left "on the floor, by the sink" before she "grabbed the knife off the side". She described how she had "struck out" with the weapon "because she was scared, scared of Kasey" and "what he was going to do".

Kasey would have turned 25 on April 8 (Liverpool Echo)

Richard Pratt KC, prosecuting, put to her during his cross-examination that said she had told "bare-faced lies" in the immediate aftermath in claiming that she did not know how he had been injured. When asked whether she had seen Kasey with black eyes previously, gasps were heard among the public gallery as Bennett said: "Kasey’s a drug dealer. He’s not this quiet thing. He uses weapons."

Bennett will be sentenced on November 10. Judge Denis Watson KC told her: "You have been convicted of murder, for which there can only be one sentence - imprisonment for life. It is possible there may be some medical information that may touch on the minimum term I must assess before you can be considered for release. This is a sentence where there can be that only one sentence, which is imprisonment for life."

Merseyside Police's Detective Inspector Ben Wayment said following the verdict: “This was a vicious and calculated attack by Bennett that sadly resulted in the death of a young man. Our thoughts remain with Kasey’s family at this time, and we hope this conviction brings them some comfort."

Monica Charsley