Moment cage fighter lunges at neighbour after stabbing ex-girlfriend to death after sex life row

Watch: Jailed cage fighter lunges at neighbour with knife after killing ex-girlfriend

This horrifying footage shows a former professional cage fighter launch a vicious attack on a concerned neighbour after stabbing his ex-girlfriend to death in front of her 13-year-old daughter.

Andrew Wadsworth, 37, stabbed his ex Melissa Belshaw with a large kitchen knife in her own home before turning on her neighbour Gerard Bristow in the street as he came to her aid.

The cocaine and alcohol-fuelled 37-year-old, who has been jailed for life, went on to deliver a roundhouse kick to a police officer who tried to arrest him, as well as punching another in the face in a police cell. He will serve a minimum of 32 years behind bars.

Manchester Crown Court heard the former cage fighter launched the attack two months after he had been released from prison on licence after becoming obsessed by his ex-girlfriend’s sex life.

He subjected the 32-year-old to a prolonged attack with a large kitchen knife in her bedroom in Billinge, Wigan, on the afternoon of May 20.

Andrew Wadsworth had become obsessed with ex-girlfriend Melissa Belshaw's sex life. (PA)
Andrew Wadsworth had become obsessed with ex-girlfriend Melissa Belshaw's sex life. (PA)

A passer-by rescued Ms Belshaw’s terrified daughter by smashing into the locked house with a hammer but Wadsworth then went out on to the street where he repeatedly stabbed concerned neighbour Gerard Bristow.

The court heard Wadsworth came close to killing Bristow, who suffered wounds to his chest and head, a partially severed right ear and a punctured lung, leaving him with nerve damage that means he is unable to exercise and play sport.

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He then delivered a roundhouse kick to a police constable’s head at the scene where he was arrested, and later punched another officer in the face in a police cell.

Wadsworth, of Cranfield Road, Wigan, was found guilty by the jury of murder and attempted murder, and pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two assaults on police officers. He was cleared of making a threat to kill against Ms Belshaw’s daughter.

Manchester Crown Court (Crown Square) in central Manchester.
Wadsworth was found guilty at Manchester Crown Court. (PA)

He admitted stabbing his former girlfriend but relied on a partial defence to murder of a loss of control following what he claimed was a string of shock revelations about her sex life.

Sentencing him to life imprisonment, Mrs Justice Yip said: “At trial, you painted a very negative picture of Ms Belshaw as you set out to shift responsibility away from you and to blame her for what happened. Some of the things you claimed were demonstrably false.

“Your character assassination undoubtedly went beyond anything that was justified. You had degraded her in her life and you continued to do so after her death.

“She may have made some mistakes in her life but at the time of her death she was pursuing her dream of having her own beauty salon. She was still only young and was seeking to turn her life around. Sadly, she made a fatal mistake in becoming involved with you and you took her future away.”

The court heard Wadsworth had come out of prison on licence in November 2017 after receiving a five-year jail sentence in 2010 for two offences of robbery involving imitation firearms and a 10-year custodial term in 2011 for aggravated burglary and causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

He started seeing Ms Belshaw from March 2018 but was recalled to prison in January 2019 after testing positive for cocaine, released again on licence on March 4, 2020 following a Parole Board hearing.

He was sent to live at an approved hostel but was allowed to move to his mother’s address just a fortnight later because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

During sentencing, Mrs Justice Yip commended the bravery of van driver Kevin Moores, 40, who pulled Ms Belshaw’s daughter to safety after she courageously rang police and then helped 46-year-old Bristow.

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