Paul Gary Turner produced a knife during a mediation hearing with his ex-partner Sarah Thomas and stabbed her six times, with one of the blows severing her carotid artery
A man will spend at least 24 years in prison after stabbing his former partner to death in an act of “outrageous violence” inside a court .
Paul Gary Turner, 43, was found guilty by a Supreme Court jury of murdering the 33-year-old mother of his two children, Sarah Thomas, during a mediation hearing in December 2016.
The pair were embroiled in a custody battle over their seven year old and four year old. But on the day of the murder, they were attending a separate hearing to discuss a claim by Turner that Ms Thomas owed him about £1,500.
Without warning, Turner produced a kitchen knife, which he is thought to have concealed in a lever arch file, and started attacking his estranged partner, stabbing her six times. One of his blows severed the carotid artery in her neck, leading to her death.
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Prosecutor James Mactaggart said Turner specifically chose a public location to carry out his act for maximum impact, telling the jury: “It was quite outrageous violence in a public place by a person who took the opportunity to make a public statement.”
The horrific scene unfolded inside the Joondalup courthouse in Perth, Australia. A court officer, who was meditating, was present at the time. Turner was said to have attacked as the officer went to open the door.
CCTV captured Turner waiting to go into the meeting, and then walking out and slumping to the floor in the aftermath, via Australia’s ABC.
The court was told years earlier Turner had undergone training in “commando knife skills”, which included being taught how to kill people by targeting their major arteries.
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At his trial, three years after the attack, Turner claimed he could not remember the incident, saying his only memory was being in the Joondalup Police Station with blood on his hands.
He further said he had been suffering from frequent dissociative seizures as a result of a head injury he suffered in 2015 when he was working as a truck driver.
The jury was given the option of delivering a verdict that Turner was not of sound mind at the time of the attack, but it rejected his defence and found him guilty of murder.
He was sentenced to life in jail with a 24-year minimum.
It comes after dramatic police bodycam footage captured the moment a thug was arrested in a shed not long after stabbing his love rival to death.
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Michael James, 45, fatally stabbed Bradley Hollis, 35, with a kitchen knife during a fight at his home in March 2025.
James shared the house with his ex-girlfriend Zara Tolley, who he had previously dated for 10 years.
Dad-of-four Mr Hollis began seeing Ms Tolley after the relationship ended, and in a jealous rage, James set upon the new lover while his own two children were asleep upstairs in the property.
James was jailed for 14 years after he was found guilty of manslaughter, along with a second charge of possessing a bladed article in a public place. He also admitted a charge of assault occasioning actual bodily harm carried out against his ex-partner, Ms Tolley, in the hours before Mr Hollis was fatally attacked.