A UK-based Nigerian man, Adedapo Adegbola has been sentenced to life in prison for murdering a woman he worked with after she ended their brief ‘controlling relationship’.
Adegbola fatally stabbed 23-year-old Stephanie Irons in the neck at her home in Mapperley, Nottinghamshire, on 21 October.
Nottingham Crown Court heard he “had become obsessed” with Irons and planned to kill her.
On Thursday, he was ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years following his guilty plea last month.
Speaking in court, Irons’s mother said: “I have no words to say how broken I am to have lost her in such a horrific way.” She described her daughter as “compassionate and caring,” saying, “She lit up the room and could make even the saddest person smile. That’s because she wanted to make a happy and kinder world,” as quoted by BBC.
Judge Nirmal Shant KC said: “You had been in a brief relationship with Stephanie Irons after you met as work colleagues. Your controlling behavior led her to end the relationship. What is plain is that you were not prepared to accept that.”
The court heard Adegbola purchased two knives on 15 October, then travelled to Irons’s home on 21 October, where he stabbed her multiple times, delivering the fatal blow to her neck.
Prosecutor Peter Joyce KC said Adegbola sent screenshots of sexually explicit messages from Irons’s phone to colleagues “probably after he had killed [her].”
Adegbola remained at the scene as Irons lay dying before fleeing with her keys and phone, later disposing of his clothes and the weapon. He handed himself in to police in Hull on 22 October and pleaded guilty to murder in January.
Det Insp Stuart Barson said the family showed “incredible strength and bravery” and read a statement on their behalf: “We have lost our beautiful daughter and shining light. No-one will ever take away the pain that’s been caused by this senseless act. She was the kindest, sweetest person anyone could meet and our lives will never be the same.”
Earlier this week, Nottinghamshire Police charged 40-year-old Mary Onolunosen with assisting an offender; she is due to appear at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on 6 March.