2007: MAN JAILED FOR MURDER OF EX-GIRLFRIEND
A LOOKALIKE of England footballer Sol Campbell has been jailed for life for stabbing a Dudley shop worker to death.Peter Martin used an eight inch knife to kill his ex-girlfriend of 17 years Karen Hartshorne after she dumped him for another man.
Mum-of-two Hartshorne, who worked at Clinton's card shop in the Churchill precinct, also had her throat slashed in the frenzied attack at her Coseley home last February.
Martin, dubbed a "sad and disappointed man", was ordered to serve at least 14 years before being considered for parole.
Judge Frank Chapman told Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday December 22 he had to class the 38-year-old as someone who could pose future harm to the public due to the attack and had to pass a sentence for "public protection".
He said: "You could not accept that she found happiness with someone else.
It was at that point you became angry." Martin, of no fixed address, admitted murdering Hartshorne but denied the attempted murder of Paul Round, the new man in her life.
Malcolm Bishop, defending, said the brutal attack was not planned and Martin was depressed at the end of their relationship.
He said Martin was in financial difficulties and the family were set to be evicted because of unpaid rent.
Mr Bishop said: "Martin feels an overwhelming sense of genuine remorse.
He tried to do away with himself after the murder." The court previously heard Martin killed her with such force the knife broke and he then lunged at Round, who was able to escape the house without getting injured.
Martin had been on the books of an agency specialising in celebrity lookalikes.
