A mother-of-one stabbed a man to death during a row over him gate-crashing a friend’s house party.
Leanne Bentley, 28, knifed 51-year old Peter Richardson in the back when fighting broke out after he was offered a beer.
Bentley who was attending the party at a friend’s house had mistakenly assumed Richardson had ‘helped himself’ to alcohol, Manchester Crown Court heard.
She was said to have snatched the beer back from Richardson, who then kicked out at her.
But after Richardson eventually agreed to leave he was stabbed by Bentley as he left the house. He died in hospital of his wounds the next day.
Leanne Bentley, a mother of one who stabbed 51-year-old Peter Richardson to death during a row over him gate-crashing a Manchester house party, has been jailed for almost seven years
In the aftermath of the killing Bentley, from Wythenshawe, Manchester texted a friend to say she ‘scared as f***’ adding: ‘It’s all hitting me now today. Don’t know what I’m going to do to be honest anymore. Delete texts straight after.’
On Thursday she was jailed for six years and seven months jail after she admitted manslaughter on the grounds of ‘loss of self control.’ Her not guilty pleas to murder was accepted by the prosecution.
In a statement the victim’s widow Julie Richardson said: ‘I know Peter wasn’t perfect, but he didn’t deserve to die in the way he did.
‘His death has made me feel like my heart is broken in two. To know that your husband has been stabbed in the back is heart-breaking and difficult to comprehend.
‘I feel that it is me who has been given a life sentence without my husband.’
Mrs Richardson who was married to her husband for 27 years added: ‘I didn’t know what love was until I met my Peter.
Peter Richardson, pictured, was a family friend of the woman who was throwing the house party. He would regularly let himself into her home and did so on the night he was killed
‘We loved one another so much, we were one another’s worlds. I cannot understand how stabbing someone in the back is not murder. I want her to feel how I feel.’
The court heard the tragedy occurred on May 20 this year after Bentley had been invited round for drinks at the home of her friend Leanne Loose in Wythenshawe.
‘Leanne Loose had known Peter Richardson, and his wife Julie, since she was a child and he would say they were ‘like family’ to her,’ said Mark Ford QC prosecuting.
‘He would call around on a regular basis would let himself into the house uninvited, or if the door was shut he would make excuses to be let in. At one stage he had called around about 50 times in the space of a week.
‘Leanne Loose tolerated his behaviour, but her daughter thought he was a nuisance.’
During the evening Richardson let himself into the property at 11pm, drunk and uninvited.
Leanne Bentley, 28, stabbed Peter Richardson in the back as he left her friend’s house party in Wythenshawe, Manchester as she mistakenly believed he had helped himself to beer
He was given a bottle of beer in the hope he would then go quietly but a row broke out when Bentley emerged from the toilet and assumed he had ‘just helped himself.’
During the ensuing argument Richardson initially refused to leave and the pair began fighting which spilled out into the front garden of the property during which Bentley hit Richardson with a garden chair.
One neighbour alerted by the noise came out of his house and ordered Richardson to go as the fighting was scaring children and the victim apologised and agreed to leave.
But as Richardson turned to stagger off, Bentley ran out from the house, armed with a kitchen knife and stabbed him in the back.
Following the stabbing, the victim walked away before collapsing a short while later.
A passer-by called an ambulance and he was taken to hospital, where he died at 3am the next morning.
Bentley was jailed for six years and seven months after being convicted of manslaughter
Bentley later claimed she threw blows at Richardson in ‘self defence’ having been warned he had been known to carry a knife.
She described Richardson as ‘raging’ and that he had punched her several times to the face and had used the garden chair to protect herself.
In mitigation Bentley’s lawyer Richard Littler QC said it was a ‘classic loss of self control case’ and added: ‘The reality is the deceased was inside that property unlawfully. He had let himself again into this property, he was not welcome.’
But sentencing Bentley, Judge Nicholas Dean QC told her: ‘No matter the character of Peter Richardson, no matter his behaviour, his death is no less a tragedy for those who loved him.
‘The events were confusing, frightening and led to a highly-charged, febrile atmosphere.
‘That atmosphere was caused by the behaviour of Mr Richardson but this was not in truth a spontaneous and immediate response to the provocation.’
After the hearing, Det Ch Insp Andrew Butterworth, of Greater Manchester Police said: ‘This is a tragic incident in which a man lost his life as he was walking away from the situation and not looking for conflict.
‘This attack by Bentley was brutal, unwarranted and has sadly cost Peter his life.
‘Our thoughts remain with Peter’s family and friends at this incredibly difficult time as they come to terms with this loss.’