Jailed: Female football coach who battered teen to death outside his home in money row

A female football coach who battered a teenager to death with a baseball bat has been jailed 14 years after killing.

Karen Dunmore attacked Scott Pritchard outside his home in Sunderland in 2004 in a row over money.

She smashed the 19-year-old over the head with a baseball bat, but the murder went unsolved for more than a decade.

Mr Pritchard’s father Robert Stacey, known as Fred, was charged with murdering his own son and spent 16 weeks on remand before the case against him was dropped in 2005.

However Tunmore, 36, was jailed for 17 and a half years on Monday after confessing, as she could ‘not longer live with the guilt’.

Pritchard was found fatally injured outside his home in Hendon on Jan 7, 2004. He was rushed to hospital with serious head injuries where he later died.

In a Victim Personal Statement read out at Newcastle Crown Court, Mr Stacey said people continued to shout abuse at him, even though he was cleared, and he was scared to walk around Sunderland city centre “for fear of being accused of a crime I did not commit”.

Senior investigating officer, Detective Chief inspector John Bent of Northumbria Police, said: ‘It is rare for a murder case to remain open for so long because suspects are normally identified at a very early stage.

‘I am glad that Scott’s family may finally see some justice as it has been an incredibly difficult time for them since he passed away.

‘To have your son murdered is tragic in itself but for his killer to remain in the community for such a long time is heart-breaking.

‘Hopefully they can take some comfort from knowing that Karen Tunmore has been brought to justice.’