A woman accused of murdering a mum outside a birthday party used so much force she ‘smashed’ the victim’s bone with a cake knife, a court has heard. Hope Rowe, 33, is on trial at Inner London Crown Court accused of stabbing 31-year-old Charlotte Lawlor to death outside Hebrides Court in Stepney Green, while her boyfriend Leigh Holder, 37, is charged with perverting the course of justice.
Prosecutor Charlotte Newell KC finished her closing speech on Thursday (June 12), dismissing Rowe’s partial defence of loss of control, which the defendant attributes to a personality disorder triggered during a row with Ms Lawlor about her missing keys. Ms Newell told jurors Rowe had ‘invented’ her claim she was stabbed in the head with a key and had blood pouring out.
“It was a lie to justify her actions and get away with murder,” said the silk, “The truth is Charlotte Lawlor was not running out to start a fight. She could have done that any time. She did not leave until the Range Rover had driven away. She did not know Hope Rowe would come back on foot and armed… Charlotte Lawlor wanted to go home. The only person who wanted to fight was Hope Rowe.”
After showing jurors a CCTV clip of the moment Ms Lawlor was stabbed, Ms Newell said the evidence was consistent with ‘a deliberate, considered, cynical attack’. The prosecutor said Rowe was ‘spoiling for a fight’, demonstrated by removing her hair piece, shouting at Ms Lawlor, punching her in the face. After the stabbing, Ms Newell said Rowe went back into the lobby ‘to attempt to inflict further wounds’.
Referring to the legal test for loss of control, Ms Newell asked: “A reasonable person would slam a knife into someone, someone whose five foot two, with so much force it smashed her bone?… She’s unarmed, tiny.”
Ms Newell also took aim at Mr Holder, who is accused of helping Rowe to dispose of the knife and of taking her away from the scene in his car. Describing him as ‘utterly ruthless’, Ms Newell said Mr Holder’s lies to armed police – telling officers Rowe had jumped out the car and was at her sister’s address – were part of ‘a plan to throw police off the scent’.
“Both of these defendants have lied repeatedly and invented evidence to have any sort of defence,” said Ms Newell, “Neither Hope Rowe or Leigh Holder have demonstrated a single shred of remorse… that’s nothing to do with her personality disorder, that’s her personality.”
‘If only Hope’s keys were returned’
Clea Topolski KC, defending Rowe, told jurors Ms Lawlor ‘did not deserve to die’ and reminded them of Ms Rowe’s response when she was asked if she cared about Ms Lawlor’s death: “Of course I do, it’s something I have to live with for the rest of my life.”
Suggesting why Rowe took the weapon from the flat, Ms Topolski said: “Something came to pass in that flat. Something so unpleasant and frightening, she left in a hurry with a birthday cake knife and [two children].”
On the reason for her return, Ms Topolski continued: “The reason she came back was for her keys, and but for those keys being left in [the] flat, Ms Rowe would not have come back. I do not say that as a means of justifying what then took place. If only Hope’s keys were returned to her swiftly, life would be very different for all involved. To this day those keys have never been found.
“If her intention was to stab Charlotte Lawlor when she returned, causing at least really serious harm, why then did she not simply pick the knife up in close proximity to Charlotte Lawlor in [the] flat and then just do it then?”
Ms Topolski also claimed Rowe feared a child inside the flat would be stabbed using a machete. “That led her to being frozen to the spot, desperately considering her actions,” claimed the barrister.
‘He was trying to de-escalate’
Defending Mr Holder, Simon Smith told jurors there was no evidence Mr Holder knew Rowe had the knife or had been the one to dispose of it, and argued ‘if anything’ Mr Holder had tried to stop Rowe attacking Ms Lawlor. “You might think it’s clear he had no idea Hope was going to produce a knife and he was doing his best in the fast moving and developing situation,” he said.
On Mr Holder’s actions after the stabbing, Mr Smith said: “Can you really put into his head an intention to pervert the course of justice. He was making decisions on the spur of the moment and at speed. He was trying to de-escalate. and get distance between them, and you might think that’s an important part of the case for you to consider.”
“You might not agree with what he did, and the effect that might have had, but the prosecution cannot prove he intended to pervert the course of justice,” added Mr Smith.
The trial under Judge Freya Newbery continues.
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