Woman 'would have lived but for 999 blunder'

A WOMAN murdered by her teenage boyfriend after he found her in bed with another man would have lived but for a 999 blunder, a court heard today.

Cyron Williams, who subjected Joanna Michael to a "ferocious and frenzied" knife attack, was jailed for life today.

Shocked police compared the murder scene to a "horror movie".

Williams, now aged 20, of Pentwyn, Cardiff, admitted murdering Ms Michael, aged 25, last August when he appeared at Cardiff Crown Court.

In a highly charged hearing, Williams repeatedly sobbed into his hands as chilling details of the murder emerged.

Family and friends of the victim interrupted proceedings with shrieks of grief and shouts of "monster".

Proceedings were further electrified when John Rees, defending Williams, claimed a police 999 call mix-up had led to the killing.

Ms Michael had made the call from her home in Crumlin Drive, St Mellons, Cardiff, but it had been transferred to neighbouring Gwent Police.

The consequent delay in informing South Wales Police is currently the subject of an Independent Police Complaints Commission inquiry.

To shouts of "No" from some of those in court, Mr Rees said: "It is a fact that if that first call had been dealt with promptly we would not be here today."

Earlier, Patrick Harrington QC, prosecuting, told how a drunken Williams stabbed Ms Michael in the "head, face, neck and arms" in the attack in the early hours of August 5 last year.

To shouts and swearing aimed at Williams from the public gallery, he explained the attack had caused "74 separate sites of injury".

Williams and Ms Michael met two years before the murder when he was 17 and had never been in a serious relationship before, the court heard.

On the evening before the stabbing, Williams had argued with her and sent a text saying their relationship was over.

But he concluded a drunken evening out with a friend by dropping him off at home and calling in on Ms Michael in the early hours of the morning.

He discovered her in bed with a man called Lewis Yellen, who agreed to be driven home by Williams.

Williams had punched Ms Michael in the face before leaving, causing her to call the police in fear after he had left.

But Williams returned before the police could arrive and carried out the murder, the court heard.

"He was driving so quickly that he crashed his car into the front of the house," Mr Harrington said, speaking of Williams returning.

"He then kicked in the front door. He went to the kitchen and armed himself with the largest knife he could find.

"This was a kitchen knife with a sharp penetrating blade. He then went upstairs and murdered Ms Michael."

He added: "What the defendant did was to attack Joanna Michael in each part of the upstairs of her house."

He said the brutal attack was so violent the blade of the knife used in the murder broke.

Passing photographs of the aftermath of the killing to judge Justice Wyn Williams, he warned: "The photos even in laser copies are chilling in what they display."

He said that when police arrived on the scene some time later, by which time Williams had gone, they were shocked by what they saw.

A police constable who was first on the scene with a colleague later wrote his own graphic account.

"I can only describe it as something that you would see in a war or horror film," he said in words read out by Mr Harrington.

"I saw a huge pool of blood which seemed to cover all of the floor. In the middle of this blood was a motionless female."

Mr Harrington said: "He also spotted the murder weapon, which had snapped."

He added that the officers were left "in shock" by what they saw.

Justice Wyn Williams was cheered from the public gallery as he imposed a minimum 20-year term on Williams before being eligible for parole.

He told Williams that he would have been minded to impose a minimum 25-year term had he contested the charge and lost.

He said he had set a lower minimum term because he was legally obliged to take his guilty plea and age at the time into account.

He added that 213 days already served in custody would count as part of the minimum term.

Angry family members and friends of the victim shouted abuse and ran at Williams as he was taken down to holding cells under the courthouse.

One police officer drafted in to court for security managed to impose order only by threatening to make arrests.