THIS is the face of a killer who stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death in a “fierce and fuming rage” after their relationship became toxic.

Adam Butt launched the “premeditated, unprovoked, cowardly and furious attack” on US national Mary Wells at their shared home in Laing Road, Colchester, overnight on January 16 last year.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard on Friday how five foot tall Mary, who was travelling in the UK, attempted to fight back but “would have been no match at all for Butt”.

The brutal attack carried out with two knives saw 21-year-old Mary suffer stab wounds to her chest, abdomen and neck, while an unsuccessful attempt was made to decapitate her.

Mark Milleken-Smith, prosecuting, revealed Butt’s victim also suffered compression to her throat and was struck with a dumbbell in her final moments.

Gazette: Victim - Mary WellsVictim - Mary Wells

READ MORE:

When the police entered the house shortly after 5.30am on January 17, they found Mary’s body on the floor at the foot of the couple’s bed, the court heard on Friday.

Butt, 23, was said to be sat in a chair in the corner of the room with his head down, surrounded by blood on the wall.

He would later admit manslaughter with diminished responsibility in August last year.

Butt, of Laing Road, Colchester, showed no emotion as he was sentenced to 18 years in a secure hospital and told he would spend the remainder of his life on licence, on Friday.

Gazette: Emergency - police at the scene in Laing Road, ColchesterEmergency - police at the scene in Laing Road, Colchester

He will serve a minimum term of ten years in the secure unit before a decision is made by the parole board.

Tom Price, mitigating, argued it was “quite clear” that Butt, a student at the University of Essex who had met Mary on an online dating site, was going through a psychotic episode which began in November 2020.

But evidence delivered to the court strongly suggested the defendant’s mental decline resulted from heavy drug and alcohol abuse, with Butt previously telling a friend he was “stuck in a loop of never-ending acid trips”.

Judge Christopher Morgan concluded: “When you voluntarily consume drugs and it triggers a psychotic episode, this shows you have the capacity to kill another human being.