Michael Ormandy is already serving a life sentence for the murder of his girlfriend Rebekah Campbell but has now been handed further time behind bars
Michael Ormandy(Image: Merseyside Police)
A killer stuck two fingers up at a judge and began ranting furiously as he was handed further time behind bars today. Michael Ormandy was jailed for life last year after being convicted of the murder of his girlfriend Rebekah Campbell, having burst into her flat wearing body armour and stabbed her 27 times.
But his sentence has now been extended after he and an accomplice senselessly battered a man unconscious following a night out in Liverpool city centre, leaving him with a fractured skull and bleeding on the brain. Having earlier branded the victim of this assault a “liar”, the former boxer and cage fighter became enraged upon learning that he would be required to spend as little as nine months extra in prison.
However, having been placed on mute while appearing in court remotely, the city’s top judge told him: “You can be as abusive to me as you like. I’m afraid I can’t lip read.”
Liverpool Crown Court heard this afternoon, Friday, that Jordan Kane had been out drinking with friends in a bar in the city centre before leaving alone shortly after midnight on October 25 2024. He was then walking down Renshaw Street when he saw Ormandy and a second man, Wesley Evans, “messing around with each other”.
But Henry Riding, prosecuting, detailed how Mr Kane then “locked eyes with them” before “turning down a side street to avoid them”. The two defendants were said to have “turned to follow him” down Benson Street, beside Genting Casino, and begun walking either side of him.
However, Ormandy interrupted at this stage and said: “He’s lying. The camera footage proves it all. He followed me. Look at the camera footage. You’ll see who’s lying.”
Mr Riding thereafter told the court that Ormandy, formerly of Linacre Road in Litherland, was seen to suddenly turn and punch Mr Kane in the face “with a lot of force” before wrestling him to the ground and walking away. The footage subsequently showed Evans kicked the complainant to the body and stamping on his head before following his accomplice as they left the scene.
Members of the public later encountered an injured Mr Kane and called an ambulance. Although he ultimately discharged himself from hospital before receiving treatment, a CT scan undertaken when he returned the following day discovered that he had sustained a displaced fracture of the frontal bone and a hematoma.
Ormandy was seen laughing and yawning as a statement was read to the court on behalf of Mr Kane, who said: “I am still experiencing headaches, which is impacting my work life and life in general. The incident has led me to be extremely anxious about going out in public.
“The incident has impacted my confidence. Prior to the incident, I’ve never experienced anxiety and depression and feel this incident has changed me as a person. I was outgoing and positive and always saw the good side of any situation, now I’m the opposite. I used to feel like I could go anywhere in Liverpool and feel safe, but now I fear I will be attacked anywhere I go.”
Ormandy was subsequently seen rolling his eyes as Mr Riding outlined his 14 previous convictions for 31 offences, including a two-month imprisonment for battery in 2011 and receiving a total of 15 months for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, battery and assaulting an emergency services worker in June 2021, relating to three separate episodes of violence. He was then seen smiling as the court was reminded of his conviction for Ms Campbell’s murder in October last year and scowled as the prosecution counsel described Mr Kane as having suffered a “grave injury”.
Daniel Travers, defending Ormandy, said on his behalf: “On the footage alone, they appear to be in conversation for some period of time. I think that is what Mr Ormandy was anxious about.
“It appears, on the face of the footage, to be an opportunistic incident. Something happens to cause Mr Ormandy to do what he did. It does not maybe matter in the sense of, whatever was said, nothing justifies those actions.
“Importantly, Mr Ormandy does not then seek to inflict further blows upon the man on the ground. It may be a generous approach as an act of mercy when someone is going to spend more than 23 years in custody as a minimum, but it is not necessary to extend that period, even though this is a serious offence and would have resulted in custody of itself.”
Ormandy pleaded guilty to one offence of inflicting grievous bodily harm during an earlier hearing. Appearing via video link to HMP Preston wearing a sky blue Nike t-shirt and sporting a tattoo bearing the words “The Hitman” across his neck, he was handed an additional 18 months behind bars.
Sentencing, the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC said: “Whether you and he were in some sort of conversation or not or whether that involved him saying something that caused you annoyance is not clear. For whatever reason, you suddenly turned and punched him with full force to the face. You then wrestled him or knocked him to the ground.
“You walked on, leaving him there, pretty incapacitated. Your co-defendant, Mr Evans, then kicked him to the body and viciously stamped on his head. You both walked away without checking on him or seeking help.
“He describes ongoing physical pain, headaches, memory issues and ongoing psychologically trauma. This was an unprovoked, cowardly attack on a vulnerable individual in the street, involving a heavy blow to the face and a stamp to the head which could easily have caused even more serious or fatal injury.
“In interview, you both sought to paint Mr Kane as the aggressor, claiming racial abuse and even possession of a knife. Those claims were contradicted by the CCTV, which showed no such provocation. No knife was recovered.
“This was not self defence. It was, I am afraid, utterly gratuitous violence in the city centre late at night, a place where the court is always bound to regard any such criminal activity as serious.
“I have no doubt that this was group activity. It was a joint enterprise attack on a man, and you hit him first. This was a serious assault involving a shoed foot to stamp on the head. He was alone in a quiet place and was himself probably under the influence of drink.
“Your counsel, Mr Travers, argues that, given your particular circumstances, I should consider the imposition of a custodial sentence which runs concurrently to the minimum term you are currently serving. That was committed while under investigation for this offence, but before you were charged.
“This, in my judgement, was a quite separate and serious violent offence, pre-dating the murder. It merits, in my judgement, a consecutive sentence. However, I will reduce it substantially to take account of totality.”
When told that his latest sentence would be served consecutively to his life imprisonment, although he will only be required to serve half of this additional 18 months before becoming eligible for release on licence, Ormandy stuck two fingers up at the judge and appeared to mouth “f*** off” during a string of comments which were inaudible due to him having been placed on mute. He then laughed and flicked the Vs for a second time as he was handed an indefinite restraining order.
With Ormandy continuing to rant while leaning back and placing his feet on the desk in front of him, Judge Menary added: “I can see how impressed Mr Ormandy is. Again, his behaviour doesn’t surprise me. Mr Ormandy, when you take your feet off the table, you can go with the officer. I’m afraid you’re muted, so you can be as abusive to me as you like. I’m afraid I can’t lip read.”
Evans was also due to be sentenced today after pleading guilty to the same offence. However, the 42-year-old, of Beatrice Street in Bootle, failed to appear in court after telling his solicitors that he was suffering from food poisoning and his partner had gone into labour.
However, it then transpired that his baby had been delivered by caesarean section two weeks prior, while he had submitted a “sick note” which stated that he was unfit to attend work, accompanied by a handwritten message adding that he was also unable to appear in court due to his illness. His counsel Oliver Saddington told the court: “I have had a fairly graphic description of his symptoms, my lord.”
But the judge replied: “I am somewhat sceptical. He is covering all bases, isn’t he? I am going to issue a bench warrant. I am not satisfied that the explanation given is true or sufficient.”
The ECHO previously reported that Ms Campbell died aged 32 after being knifed 27 times by Ormandy inside her own flat at Knowsley Heights in Huyton in April last year. He claimed to have acted in self-defence during the incident, despite suffering only a single cut to his hand during the altercation, requiring only minor treatment in hospital as a result.
Rebekah was meanwhile left covered in blood as she collapsed outside the block of flats, having suffered 18 stab wounds and been slashed a further nine times with a knife. She was said to have pleaded “get out, go away Mick” as he burst into her home unannounced in a bulletproof vest and brutally attacked her before asking police officers who rushed to the scene “am I gonna die?” as they fought in vain to save her life.
Only three days earlier, “jealous and possessive” Ormandy had left his partner with a black eye after punching her during a night out in the city centre. The self-confessed drug dealer then had sex with another woman at a hotel and told her that he was “going to Liverpool to sort something out” a matter of hours before the fatal stabbing.
In the aftermath, Ormandy called the police in the early hours and claimed to have a “suicide vest” while threatening to “blow everyone up”. Following his arrest, he went on to remark that his victim “must have stabbed herself”.
Having smiled, clapped and shouted “come on, cloud nine, I know where yous all live you daft c***s” in response to cheers from Rebekah’s family as he was convicted, Ormandy nodded as he was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 24 years behind bars. Some in the public gallery were heard to remark “you little nonce” and “s***house” as he was led down to the cells, at which stage he responded by shouting: “You little tramp. You little rat.”