Overview
- Hope Rowe was convicted of murdering Charlotte Lawlor with a knife used to cut a birthday cake and received life imprisonment with a 23-year minimum term.
- Leigh Holder was sentenced to 16 months for perverting the course of justice after helping dispose of the unrecovered murder weapon.
- CCTV footage and an inadvertent voicemail in which Rowe praised the killing provided critical evidence of premeditation.
- Judge Freya Newbury rejected Rowe’s loss-of-control defence and highlighted that children as well as adults witnessed the fatal attack.
- Victim impact statements, including a tribute video by Lawlor’s 12-year-old son, underscored the profound trauma inflicted on her family.