Woman's chilling nine-word message to ex after he stabbed her new partner to death

A woman told her murderer ex-boyfriend 'I will always regret the day I met you' after he butchered her new partner while he lay in bed.

Kaydon Prior knifed Harrison Tomkins in the chest, legs and back with a hunting knife in a "brutal and frenzied" attack in Crawley, Sussex. He was helped and encouraged by his friend Jason Curtis.

On Tuesday, Judge Jeremy Gold KC sentenced Prior and Curtis at Brighton Crown Court to serve a minimum of 28 years and 22 years respectively for murder. The pair had stormed into Alicia Parrin's flat in Crawley after hearing she had been out with another man, the Mirror reports.

Prior then leapt onto Mr Tomkins, 25, and stabbed him 10 times in the chest, legs and back with a hunting knife in a "brutal and frenzied" attack at around 5.30am on August 13 2023.

During the trial, jurors heard how Prior dropped the knife in the bedroom, punched Ms Parrin, and walked out of the building where he rejoined Curtis, telling him to burn his clothes as they escaped.

In a powerful impact statement read in court, Ms Parrin said she regretted the day she ever met Prior - and will never be able to recover from the trauma of the attack on "totally innocent" Mr Tomkins. She said: "I can not unsee what happened that night. Everything was in slow motion and I felt weak. I used to use sleep as a way of getting out of scary situations."

And she added: "As soon as I close my eyes I see him coming into my room and doing the unthinkable again." "One of the worst parts is, Kaydon would probably take pleasure in how he has pulled my life apart. I will never be able to leave behind the fear he instilled in me. Even if I hear keys in a door, I'm immediately on edge and thrown into a panic."

Members of Mr Tomkins' family also read their statements in court. His mum, Natasha Tomkins, described him as a "brave, adventurous and generous" man - but said their "complete and content" was destroyed on the day he died. Ms Tomkins said: "This targeted attack was so futile. We were robbed of the future of our son. The physical pain I experience every day is indescribable. I truly feel my heart is breaking."

Sentencing the pair on Tuesday, Judge Gold said: "This was a carefully planned and executed killing of a young man who neither of you knew or had any sensible reason to want to hurt, let alone kill."

"This brutal murder was born out of utter obsession by you, Kaydon Prior, with Alicia Parrin. She was understandably exhausted by your increasingly coercive and controlling behaviour over the last few weeks of your relationship. She made it clear to you she no longer put up with it, you could not and would not accept that simple fact."

Of Mr Tomkins, the judge added: "This court has heard moving victim impact statements from his parents and other family members who are all devastated at the loss of this young man who was so full of potential. He was variously described as kind, gentle, charitable, and his loss is understandably said by his family to have left an emptiness that can never be filled."

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