A teenage girl fatally stabbed her cousin’s boyfriend in the heart in “an act of anger and aggression”, a murder trial has heard.
Paige Poulton was said to be “wound up into a murderous rage” when she killed Jack Cadwallader at the end of what had been a “quarrelsome” day.
Within seconds of Mr Cadwallader arriving at a flat in Harrietsham in the early hours of July 2, a row erupted and 19-year-old Poulton had punched him in the mouth.
But although his reaction was simply to laugh, the teen is alleged to have “snapped” and resorted to using “the most dangerous and violent” method she could against him.
Having grabbed a knife, she delivered a single but “forceful” blow, causing the blade to penetrate his chest.
He collapsed almost immediately and all efforts to revive him both at the scene and then at hospital proved in vain.
Meanwhile, as police arrived at the property in Southfields Way to investigate what the prosecution said had been a “frightening and fast-moving” incident, Poulton hid outside in nearby bushes for almost an hour before eventually being discovered.
Then, following her arrest, she repeatedly told a constable she had been attacked by Mr Cadwallader.
But at the start of her trial on Tuesday (April 8), prosecutor Sarah Jones KC told the jury of six men and six women that the teenager had had “murderous intent” when she stabbed the victim.
“The Crown say she did this in an act of anger and aggression. She was wound up. Perhaps he goaded her and she snapped,” explained Ms Jones.
“There were any number of ways she could have dealt with the situation they were in but she went straight for the most dangerous and violent method she could and she killed him.
“And we say there was no lawful justification for that.”
Poulton, now 20 and from Haringey in London, denies murder and possessing a bladed article. The court heard she is likely to argue she acted in self-defence.
Jurors were told that around the time of the fatal stabbing, she had been staying with her distant cousin, Shannon Byrne, who was also Mr Cadwallader’s girlfriend.
The couple had a “stormy” relationship and, in the hours leading up to his killing, it had been “particularly fraught”, said the prosecutor.
They had met up with others at the Muggleton Inn Wetherspoon pub in Maidstone on July 1 but, following a number of squabbles and bickering, Ms Byrne left the group and joined Poulton, her boyfriend, Clive Harris, and a woman called Bibiana Valery after bumping into them in the town centre.
All four then caught a train just after 6pm and headed to Ms Valery’s home in Southfields Way.
The court heard it was also a “difficult period” for Poulton, having lost her accommodation and needing to rely on friends’ help for somewhere to live.
She also found Mr Cadwallader “increasingly irritating”, it is alleged, and in a message sent to her mum a little over 24 hours before his death, said: “Jack keeps going on imma (sic) end up stabbing the Cunr (sic).”
Once at Ms Valery’s home, the drinking and socialising continued, with videos uploaded to Snapchat.
Ms Byrne also began contacting various people to find out her boyfriend’s whereabouts and what he was up to. He, in turn, eventually messaged an acquaintance, Matt Smith, asking for a lift to the flat.
Mr Smith agreed and, on arriving at the address a short while after 1.30am, Mr Cadwallader jumped out of the car before it had even stopped moving.
He was, according to Mr Smith, his “usual hyper self”, the jury heard, and as soon as he was in the property, a row flared.
Ms Valery asked “What the f*** are you doing here?” as Ms Byrne complained to Mr Smith for bringing him, knowing he would “kick off”.
It was then that Poulton went straight up to him and punched him in the mouth, causing his lip to bleed.
The court heard, however, that although he “laughed it off” and said it did not “bother” him, the teenager responded that she did not like the way he treated her cousin, that he thought he was “something special” and to “get the f*** out”.
As Ms Byrne began to tell everyone to calm down, Mr Cadwallader exchanged words with Poulton’s partner and, having “offered him outside” for a fight, left the flat.
It was then that Poulton allegedly exclaimed she was “going to go f***ing mad”, grabbed a knife from the kitchen and then ran back to stand beside Mr Harris at the patio doors.
Mr Cadwallader’s response was to first hold up his phone as if recording and saying “She’s got a knife”.
Ms Byrne, thinking that her cousin only wanted to scare him away, told him however that she did not have one.
Mr Cadwallader was still outside when he dropped his phone and picked up a metal chair, using the legs to ward off Poulton.
Describing the moment he was allegedly attacked, the prosecutor told the court: “She was standing by the double doors on the patio area.
“He (Mr Cadwallader) was directing the legs of the chair towards her and Mr Harris. Then Ms Byrne saw Ms Poulton stab, with intention, hard, into the left side of Mr Cadwallader’s chest.
“She said she did it really quickly but really hard.”
Mr Cadwallader’s response was to put the chair down and appear calm. But he then collapsed on the grass, bleeding to death.
Mr Smith later told police he had seen Poulton step forward and, using a “swinging motion and quite a lot of force”, stabbed his friend.
As Mr Cadwallader lay on the ground, the court heard everyone froze before Poulton began to panic and asked her cousin “don’t tell the police” as Ms Byrne started screaming “What the f*** have you done?”
Attempts were made to staunch the blood as an ambulance was called.
The 999 call was said to have captured “the chaos” at the scene as people argued about how best to deal with the wounded man.
The noise alerted neighbours and one who went to assist noticed a woman – Poulton – who was agitated and asking “What are we going to do?”
It was then decided to drive Mr Cadwallader to hospital rather than wait for the emergency services.
Sadly, however, he was no longer breathing on arrival and, despite the efforts of paramedics and then an air ambulance crew, he was pronounced dead shortly before 3am.
In the meantime, police had arrived at the block of flats at about 1.50am and cordoned off the area.
But it was not until an hour later when an officer heard “shuffling” noises in the pitch black that Poulton and her boyfriend were discovered hiding in nearby bushes.
The pair were arrested and as Poulton was placed in handcuffs, she made various “significant” comments, including “He tried to beat me up” and “He has come in and tried to attack me. I tried to back myself”.
She also claimed Mr Cadwallader had beat up her cousin and “tried to boot” her French bulldog.
However, the court heard that despite giving all that information, Poulton answered “no comment” to all questions once formally interviewed.
A knife measuring 15.2cm was one of three found by police in the kitchen sink and had a complete DNA profile for Mr Cadwallader.
Subsequent blood tests revealed he was more than double the drink-drive limit at time of death, with the suggestion of recent use of cocaine and morphine – possibly from heroin – as well as anti-psychotic, anti-depression and anti-anxiety drugs, and one for treating insomnia.
Poulton was found to have traces of alcohol, cocaine and THC – the breakdown product of cannabis – in her urine, as well as drugs for anxiety and insomnia.
Ms Jones told the jury that to find her guilty of murder, the prosecution had to prove that when she stabbed Mr Cadwallader, she either intended to kill or to cause really serious injury.
On the issue of self-defence, the barrister said it may be argued that her actions were justified due to the “size and reputation” of the victim and “in the heat of an attack” from him on herself or another.
But Ms Jones refuted such an assertion, and described Poulton as “the aggressor”.
“The Crown say that is an opportunistic fiction, a lie, to disguise the truth,” she told the court.
“Mr Cadwallader was not attacking anyone at that point in time. On the contrary, he had received and not reacted to violence from Paige Poulton when she punched him.
“He might have offered Clive Harris outside for a fight but he never punched him and nothing was making Mr Harris or anyone else go with him and start violence.
“There were four other people present that night and none of them felt the need to defend themselves.
“The aggressor was Paige Poulton who punched Mr Cadwallader and then armed herself with a knife and stabbed him.”
Telling the jury the defendant’s intoxication could not excuse her actions, Ms Jones continued: “Jack Cadwallader was unarmed. What implements he had he was using to protect himself – a phone to record others and a chair to ward off others attacking him. He was not a fatal threat.”
She also listed a number of alternative actions Poulton could have resorted to, including staying inside the flat, seeking police help or using the knife or words to simply threaten him or tell him to leave.
“But she chose none of the routes that might have de-escalated the situation,” Ms Jones told the court.
“Instead she commented on how mad she was – not threatened by him, not frightened by him, but on her emotions and how she couldn’t control them.
“She had built up a murderous rage. In fact it had been bubbling below the surface for some time.”
Referring to the message Poulton had sent her mum, Ms Jones said it was “a clear expression” of the anger and irritation she felt towards Mr Cadwallader, and a feeling which “exploded into violence” in the early hours of July 2.
“It was not an accident, it was not self-defence, however unpleasant Jack Cadwallader may have been, and I am not painting him as an angel,” she told the jury.
“Paige Poulton armed herself and when she attacked him in the way she did, it was so fast it could not be deflected. So deliberate and so deadly, it was murder, we say.
“It may only have been one stab wound but it was driven into his heart and the consequences would have been obvious and were intended.”
The trial, which is expected to last up to four weeks, continues.
