Nursery employee who stabbed boyfriend twice throughout row responsible of homicide

A nursery worker who knifed her boyfriend to death in the chest during a row has been convicted of murder. 

Bailey Heywood, 23, stabbed 45-year-old Dale Bond twice during an argument at his home in Oxfordshire on March 13 this year. 

She then fled the scene and was later arrested on suspicion of murder at another address in Bicester, where she was found wearing blood-soaked clothes. 

Heywood claimed throughout her trial at Oxford Crown Court that Dale had become angry after she received messages from her ex-boyfriend. 

She previously told the jury she had grabbed a knife after she began to feeling ‘scared’ of his verbal threats to kill her former partner, called Tom, before she used the knife to stab him in the torso. 

She denied murder and an alternative charge of manslaughter during the two-week hearing. 

But the jury returned a guilty verdict today, causing Heywood to audibly gasp while Dale’s family, including his ex-wife Emma, were seen crying in the public gallery. 

Judge Ian Pringle told Heywood, who will be sentenced at the same court on Monday, she would go to jail. 

‘There is only one sentence I can pass in this case which is one of life imprisonment but there is a minimum term I must consider’, he said. 

The court previously heard police were called to Dale’s flat on Mullein Road following reports that a man had been ‘seriously injured’. He was found in the lounge of the property with stab wounds. 

Officers provided emergency treatment before ground and air ambulance teams were deployed. But, Dale was pronounced dead at the scene.  

Heywood was found at another address in the area wearing clothing covered in blood, where she was arrested on suspicion of murder. 

A Home Office post-mortem confirmed that the cause of Dale’s death was a stab wound to the chest. 

During her trial, Heywood alleged that Dale had grabbed a knife and threatened to kill her ex-partner. 

‘He carried on saying he was going to kill Tom’, she told the court. ‘He said again he was going to ‘kill that c***’ and he went to stand up and I stabbed him. 

‘He had a knife in his hand and I thought he was going to stab me. I don’t know why, I just did it. I was scared. 

‘I wasn’t thinking I just did it. I stabbed him once and I leant over and the second as I stepped forwards’. 

Jeremy Benson, KC, for the prosecution, argued that Heywood had intended, at least, to cause Dale ‘serious bodily harm’ amounting to a murder. He argued that Dale had not been a threat to Heywood at the time. 

Following the trial, senior investigating officer Detective Chief Inspector Will Crowther of Oxfordshire Police said it was still unclear as to why Heywood had taken Dale’s life. 

‘My thoughts firstly go out to the family and friends of Mr Bond, who have lost a much-loved son, father, brother, uncle, and friend’, he said.

‘Dale’s life was taken at the hands of Heywood. The jury completely rejected Heywood’s account that she was acting in self-defence, and there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that Mr Bond attacked Heywood.

‘The precise motives for the murder remain unclear to this day and Heywood is the only person who could tell us, but she has chosen not to, instead claiming self-defence.

‘We know that Heywood went to see Mr Bond, who she was in a relationship with, and when he least expected it, she subjected him to a vicious attack stabbing him. One of the blows caused an un-survivable wound to his chest.

‘Heywood left Mr Bond for dead and was arrested shortly after when we were alerted to the incident.

‘I would like to pay tribute to the family of Mr Bond, who have been supportive throughout our investigation, and have acted with dignity during the court process.

‘I hope that the conviction of Heywood will help them to move forward.’

Heywood will be sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Monday morning.