Killer of 'nagging partner' jailed

12 April 2012

A man who stabbed his partner 177 times in a brutal murder triggered by nagging has been jailed for at least 18 years.

Arthur Pitt-Pladdy, 36, of Saundersfoot, west Wales, left Kim Butler, 44, in a pool of blood on the floor of the flat they shared in the seaside resort.

Jailing him for life at Swansea Crown Court on Wednesday, Mr Justice Lloyd Jones told Pitt-Pladdy his actions "ought to shame you and haunt you for the rest of your life".

Pitt-Pladdy was found guilty of murder last week after a jury heard harrowing details of the "frenzied knife attack".

Ms Butler, 44, pleaded for her life as Pitt-Pladdy repeatedly stabbed her for up to five minutes, leaving a bread knife buried in her neck.

After he was jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years recommendation, the victim's relatives said the sentence would play a small part in helping them come to terms with her death.

Pitt-Pladdy, a self-confessed chronic alcoholic and heroin addict, had been drinking extra-strong lager and taking drugs all day before he murdered Ms Butler.

He claimed the attack in the early hours of August 13 last year had been triggered by the victim's nagging.

Pitt-Pladdy denied murder, but admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, claiming the alcohol dependency syndrome from which he suffered amounted to an abnormality of mind.

Mr Justice Lloyd Jones said: "You have taken a life and you have done so in the most brutal manner. Her premature and pointless death will leave a permanent shadow on the lives of her family and friends."

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