Michael Ormandy went on trial at Liverpool Crown Court today accused of the murder of 32-year-old Rebekah Campbell
Rebekah Campbell was stabbed to death inside a flat at Knowsley Heights in Huyton
A woman asked a police officer “am I gonna die?” after her boyfriend stabbed her 18 times, a murder trial has heard. Rebekah Campbell died following what was described as a “sustained and violent assault” inside her own home at Knowsley Heights in Huyton earlier this year.
The gravely injured 32-year-old was heard to shout “I’ve been stabbed” before ultimately collapsing outside the block of flats where she lived, her clothes heavily stained with blood. When neighbours rushed to her aid, she then told them: “My fella stabbed me.”
Her partner Michael Ormandy went on trial at Liverpool Crown Court today, Monday, accused of her murder. But he denies this charge, claiming to have acted in self-defence during the incident.
The 34-year-old, of Linacre Road in Litherland, was arrested on canal towpath mere minutes after Ms Campbell’s death, having apparently thrown his phone into the water. He told PCs at this stage “this wouldn’t have happened if you did your job last week”, referring to a previous altercation between the couple during a night out in Liverpool city centre three days earlier.
David McLachlan KC told a jury of nine men and three women during the prosecution’s opening this afternoon: “On Tuesday, the 15th of April 2025, in the late evening, Rebekah Campbell was on the phone to her friend Faye Henderson. She was at home in her flat in Huyton, talking in general terms to Faye Henderson. That was something they would do regularly.
“While they were talking on the phone, Faye Henderson suddenly heard Rebekah Campbell shouting something along the lines of ‘go away, get out Mick’. She then heard a loud bang and puppies barking in the background.
“Thereafter, Faye Henderson did not hear anything else. So concerned was Faye Henderson, that she rang 999. Faye Henderson was right to be concerned about her friend, because, inside that flat in Huyton, on the fifth floor, Michael Ormandy, the man in the dock, stabbed his partner Rebekah Campbell many, many times. In reality, he stabbed her to death.
Michael Ormandy, 34, is accused of murder after the death of Rebekah Campbell
“When Faye Henderson arrived at the scene about 15 minutes later, she saw her friend, Rebekah Campbell, on the ground outside the flat. Rebekah Campbell had made her way outside and was being treated for her multiple stab wounds by police and paramedics. She was taken to hospital. Those trying to help her did their best. But, in the early hours of Friday, the 16th of April, she died. This, in short, is what this case is all about.”
Ormandy and Ms Campbell were said to have been together for around four months prior to her death, although Ms Henderson reported that their relationship “was not going well” and her friend was “ready to end it”. Another friend of the deceased, Josh Collins, meanwhile described how the “relationship changed as it went on”, with the defendant known to “call her a slag or just stand at the bar and stare at her”.
This witness also detailed how he had “seen them together before, arguing and pushing” on previous occasions. One such altercation apparently occurred three days earlier, on the evening of April 12, when Ms Campbell was said to have thrown a shoe at her boyfriend and slapped him while they were out drinking in bars in the city centre.
A second “heated incident” then erupted between the two later the same night, with the deceased seen “kicking out” at Ormandy before he struck her to the face. She was said to have been left in tears after falling to the floor and suffering a black eye as a result of this blow.
Three days later, in the late evening of April 15, Ormandy was seen entering the apartment complex where Ms Campbell resided while she was on the phone to Ms Henderson. She was not said to have mentioned that she was due to be visited by her partner before her friend “heard a loud bang and puppies barking in the background”, after which the line “went quiet”.
Ms Henderson dialled 999 as a result, with Ormandy captured on CCTV exiting the building before Ms Campbell left her apartment and shouted “I’ve been stabbed”. One neighbour then looked out of her window and saw her collapse onto the ground outside, with her yellow tank top being left covered in blood.
When residents came to her aid, she was repeatedly heard to state “my fella stabbed me”. Having been placed into the back of an ambulance, she asked “am I gonna die?” while being transported to Aintree Hospital, leading to an officer replying: “You are hurt, but you are in the best place now.”
However, Ms Campbell was pronounced dead at 12.46am the following day, April 16, “despite the best efforts” of medics. Ormandy had been arrested only six minutes earlier, initially on suspicion of attempted murder, on a canal towpath, telling police as he was being searched: “This wouldn’t have happened if you did your job last week.”
A mobile phone was subsequently recovered from the canal, after Ormandy had apparently “tried to ditch” the device. Having been re-arrested on suspicion of murder following Ms Campbell’s death, he was interviewed at Copy Lane Police Station the following evening.
In a prepared statement, Ormandy said of the incident on April 12 that “everyone was drunk, but Rebekah was more out of control than the others” and recalled that she “had slapped him across the face”. He recalled that he had then “struck out in self defence” when she attacked him for a second time.
Of the night of Ms Campbell’s death, he stated that she had “immediately” screamed “I’ve got a knife” when he had entered the property and claimed he had seen such a weapon in her right hand. Having apparently attempted to disarm her, he went on to detail how his girlfriend “remained on top of him and was attacking him” and that he “responded by punching her to her body in self-defence” before he was “able to push her on to the couch”.
Ormandy, who wore a white short sleeved shirt and red tie in the dock and sported a shaved head, told detectives during a second interview that he had been seen wearing gloves following the incident as he had “blood p***ing out of his hand”. Of Ms Henderson, he added: “Faye is jealous of us because she spends more time with me than she does with her. That’s all I’ve got to say.”
The following day, Ormandy gave a further prepared statement during a third round of questioning. In it, he said of the incidents on April 12 that “if the police had arrested Rebekah Campbell on this date, there would have been no further incident which led to him acting in self-defence”, while he stated that he had been staying at his girlfriend’s home “at her request” for two-and-a-half weeks after she had given him a spare key.
A Home Office post-mortem investigation subsequently revealed that Ms Campbell had sustained a total of 27 “incised wounds” during a “sustained, violent assault”, comprising of 18 stab wounds and nine slash wounds which were “concentrated on the left side of the body”. A pathologist found that this was “in keeping with the use of severe force”, with injuries on her left arm also said to be “indicative of defence injuries as she tried to fend off an attack”.
Her cause of death was ultimately recorded as being stab wounds to the chest. Mr McLachlan added: “In conclusion, members of the jury, it is the prosecution case that, on the 15th of April of this year, Michael Ormandy, the man in the dock, went to Rebekah Campbell’s flat and attacked her with a knife. He stabbed her many, many times in what, on any version of events, must have been a sustained and violent assault, which led to her untimely death.
“In relation to the issues you will consider and grapple with in this case, you know that Michael Ormandy denies murder. His defences to the charge of murder appears to be as follows. Number one, that he was acting in self-defence. Number two, that he did not form the necessary intent to kill or to cause really serious harm, this being an essential ingredient of the offence of murder.”
Mr McLachlan, who was assisted by junior counsel Henry Riding, then pointed to the dock as he concluded: “The prosecution say that, in simple terms, when you put all of the evidence together, the finger points fairly and squarely at him, Michael Ormandy, as being responsible for murdering Rebekah Campbell. This was not, and never could be, self defence.
“His intent was clear at the outset. It was an intention to kill rather than an intention to cause really serious harm, given the number of wounds that were inflicted by him on Rebekah Campbell. The prosecution case is that this was murder.”
Ormandy, who is represented by Nick Johnson KC and Daniel Travers, denies one count of murder. The trial, before the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC, continues, and is expected to last for around two weeks.