Woman given five years for killing lover with axe

A former escort girl who admitted killing her "depraved" lover by burying an axe in his head was cleared of murder yesterday but jailed for five years for manslaughter.

Danny O'Brien was found lying naked, gagged, blindfolded and handcuffed with an axe in his head at the home he shared with Janet Charlton in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. He had been hit at least 20 times.

Charlton, 36, had denied murder and manslaughter, claiming she killed 41-year-old Mr O'Brien in self-defence after he had apparently threatened to kill her as well as her three-year-old daughter.

The jury rejected her self- defence argument but convicted her of manslaughter on the basis of provocation, after hearing details of the couple's bizarre sex life.

During the trial, jurors were told that Charlton had sex with strangers at swingers clubs in front of Mr O'Brien, who encouraged her into more extreme sexual encounters by saying she was boring.

Sentencing her at Leeds Crown Court, Judge Norman Jones said Mr O'Brien had taken the axe upstairs to their bedroom. If he had not done so, Charlton would not be in court. Mr O'Brien was a "flawed man" with "extremely depraved" sexual habits he introduced to Charlton, the judge said.

But he added: "To take a man's life even in these circumstances is a grave offence and can only attract a sentence of a significant number of years. It means, at the time, you lost your self-control. You were imbued with the desire to kill or cause very serious bodily injury.

"By the jury's verdict this was not self-defence. But you lost your self-control and you lashed out in a frenzy and he was killed."

As the judge passed sentence Charlton, who had been wiping away tears, began to cry and slumped forward in the dock with her head in her hands. Several people shouted from the public gallery as she was led away, sobbing uncontrollably, including one man who said: "You should be laughing not crying."

Charlton told police she killed Mr O'Brien after he threatened to "chop off" her head when she said she was leaving him. She said Mr O'Brien showed her the 3ft axe in the bedroom and told her she was not going anywhere.

Speaking at a news conference after the case, Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Johnston said he was still unsure of Charlton's motive but the jury made their decision after hearing seven weeks of evidence of her and Mr O'Brien's activities.

He said: "Having heard all that evidence they [the jury] have concluded that she was provoked into doing what she did. Provocation is still an offence in law and it is an actual intentional killing but because of those certain circumstances that brought it about."

Mr O'Brien's mother, Elizabeth, from Bolton, Greater Manchester, said she was "shocked and devastated" by the verdict. She said outside the court: "Danny has never shown violence to a soul in his entire life. The suggestion that the axe was taken to the bedroom by him is utterly outrageous."