Ex-model stabbed Hucknall man when he told her he would leave

A former model from Hucknall who stabbed her boyfriend in the chest when he ended their relationship has been jailed.
Karl BloxhamKarl Bloxham
Karl Bloxham

Ellishia Allen, 29, of Spruce Grove, pleaded guilty to the murder of 39-year-old Karl Bloxham at Nottingham Crown Court on Wednesday morning.

The court heard Allen stabbed Mr Bloxham with one blow penetrating his chest wall and severing an artery which led to a massive loss of blood.

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Allen was found covered in blood beside his body, having attempted to resuscitate him, when a police officer entered their first floor flat on the night of July 29, 2015.

Ellishia Allen, when she was a modelEllishia Allen, when she was a model
Ellishia Allen, when she was a model

Michael Auty QC, prosecuting, said: “They had been in a relationship since 2010 and they met in 2007 when they were on a community order - she for common assault and he for drink driving.

“Almost from the outset their relationship was volatile. It is plain that each played a part in the arguments.”

He said psychiatric reports revealed that Allen was chronically dependent on alcohol and had been diagnosed with a personality disorder.

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“She was genuinely concerned that she couldn’t live without his help. They were extremely fond of each other.”

Ellishia Allen, when she was a modelEllishia Allen, when she was a model
Ellishia Allen, when she was a model

But when she drank, he said, she became hostile and unpredictable.

“He never knew precisely what state he would find her in.”

On the day of his murder, Mr Bloxham told friends he planned to finish the relationship.

He went for a drink after work in Bulwell, where he drank six pints and smoked ‘a significant amount of cannabis’.

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When he called her, Allen made it plain that he wouldn’t be leaving without a fight.

A neighbour heard Allen cry: “Karl, please don’t leave me.”

Minutes later, the same woman heard a man’s voice saying: “Stop - you’re hurting me.”

Allen called 999 at 9.52pm and said: “I have just stabbed my boyfriend. He is dying in front of me. He was calling me names.

“I just grabbed the knife and I stabbed him in the heart.”

She became aggressive towards the 999 operator and said: “He is f***ing dead. His eyes are open. He is not moving and I stabbed him. I got sick of him mouthing off.”

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When police arrived at 10.07pm, Mr Bloxham was not breathing.

“Sergeant McCartney saw Karl Bloxham lying on the floor in a pool of blood. Ellishia Allen was kneeling next to him and had blood on her arms,” said Mr Auty.

He was taken to the QMC but he was beyond help and he was pronounced dead at 11.10pm.”

Allen identified the knife she had used and asked to be allowed to get clothing from the bedroom. When she became ‘extremely angry, almost hysterical’, the officer took her downstairs.

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At Mansfield police station she claimed that Mr Bloxham sexually assaulted her and urinated on her before she stabbed him.

Judge Gregory Dickinson told the court there was no scientific evidence to support this and asked them to discount what was said.

Mr Auty said Allen was deemed unfit to be interviewed.

The court heard the pressure inside the Spruce Grove flat ‘must have increased.’

In December 2013 police were called and Allen admitted that she was having thoughts of stabbing Mr Bloxham.

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She was taken to the Queen’s Medical Centre in Nottingham where she became aggressive and started shouting. She was detained under the Mental Health Act - one of two occasion in which she was hospitalised.

A neighbour reported seeing her attack Mr Bloxham physically while he stood there and took it, said Mr Auty.

On one occasion Allen warned him: “Wait until you are asleep. I will stab you through the heart.”

“Karl Bloxham very often left the flat for a few days until things had calmed down,” said Mr Auty.

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“In 2015 she reduced her drinking and her whole personality would improve. Karl Bloxham hoped that would lead to a permanent state. Sadly it didn’t.”

On July 28 Allen called 111 and threatened to slice the throat of a support worker. She called again at 2.25am and said she intended to cut her wrists.

The operator woke Mr Bloxham who said ‘she is forever doing this.’

An ambulance was called and she was found ‘apparently calm’ but claiming to have taken an overdose of sleeping tablets and anti-psychotic medication.

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She told the ambulance crew to ‘f*** off’ when they wanted to take her to hospital.

“Karl Bloxham was friendly and courteous and got on with dealing with the situation,” said Mr Auty.

The court heard Allen had numerous previous convictions and had assaulted about ten police officers over the years.

In 2006 she was convicted of disordered conduct, in 2007 of assaulting a police officer and in September 2008 she was arrested for being drunk and disorderly on an airplane.

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The court heard that Mr Bloxham had previous convictions relating to an earlier relationship. In February 2006 he was convicted of common assault, in August 2007 of criminal damage, in October 2009, of harassment.

Statements by Mr Bloxham’s sister and father, talking of the devastation caused by his death, were read out.

His sister said: “Our family has been destroyed. I can’t talk about Karl without crying.

“Sometimes I see someone on the street and for a split second I think it is Karl. This is the worst thing that has happened to me. I feel so angry.

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“I am worried about what it will do to my mum and dad. I miss him. I regret that I didn’t tell him enough that I loved him. I feel that my heart has been ripped out.”

Mr Bloxham’s father, John, said Karl was ‘a gentleman with old-fashioned values.’

“I light a candle every day before I go to work. We both used to work together in the same place.”

He said he had inherited his son’s tools and told of how they would mess about with an archery target during breaks at work.

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“Life will carry on but it will never be the same again. I have lost my son and my best friend.”

Peter Joyce, mitigating, said delays bringing the case to trial were not Allen’s fault and spoke of the ‘dread of the trial which she has spared them’ by pleading guilty.

Some members of Mr Bloxham’s family walked out during the mitigation.

Mr Joyce said Allen was brought up by her grandmother and said she was someone who is ‘vulnerable by virtue of her personality disorder’.

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She was an emotionally unstable person who suffered from alcohol dependence syndrome and a number of medical conditions relating to alcohol abuse, as well as anorexia and bulimia.

“This is not an evil woman,” Mr Joyce said. “This is a woman who is in fact very unwell.

“She immediately followed the instructions to conduct cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Karl Bloxham. And that is because she loved him.

“She didn’t want him in that condition and she knew that she did wrong. It is plain she was utterly stricken by remorse.

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“It is not common for someone to plead guilty to murder. It is the best way of expressing remorse.”

Judge Gregory Dickinson told Allen: “The sad reality is that you failed to take help when it was offered to you.

“Indeed you struck out in words or physically those who tried to help you.

“You are to be sentenced on the basis that you didn’t intend to kill Mr Bloxham.

He said she had a very troubled early life.

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“It is that which led you to turn to drugs and drink at a tragically early age. Had you carried on drinking at the same rate, sooner or later you would have killed yourself.”

He sentenced Allen to life, with a minimum term to serve fixed at 14 years.

As Allen was led down, a member of Mr Bloxham’s family shouted: “You are evil - you are vile. These are his ashes and that’s all we’re left with.”

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