A UK-based Nigerian man, Adedapo Adegbola, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of a woman he worked with after she ended what the court described as a brief and controlling relationship.
Nottingham Crown Court heard that Adegbola became “obsessed” with 23-year-old Stephanie Irons and planned her killing after she broke off the relationship. On Thursday, he was ordered to serve a minimum of 25 years in prison following his guilty plea last month.
Adegbola fatally stabbed Irons in the neck at her home in Mapperley, Nottinghamshire, on 21 October.
Speaking in court, Irons’s mother described her devastation at losing her daughter.
“I have no words to say how broken I am to have lost her in such a horrific way,” she said. She described Stephanie as “compassionate and caring,” adding: “She lit up the room and could make even the saddest person smile. That’s because she wanted to make a happy and kinder world,” according to the BBC.
Sentencing Adegbola, Judge Nirmal Shant KC said:
“You had been in a brief relationship with Stephanie Irons after you met as work colleagues. Your controlling behaviour led her to end the relationship. What is plain is that you were not prepared to accept that.”
The court heard that Adegbola purchased two knives on 15 October, days before travelling to Irons’s home on 21 October, where he stabbed her multiple times, delivering the fatal wound to her neck.
Prosecutor Peter Joyce KC told the court that Adegbola sent screenshots of sexually explicit messages from Irons’s phone to colleagues, “probably after he had killed [her].”
After the attack, Adegbola remained at the scene while Irons lay dying before fleeing with her keys and phone. He later disposed of his clothing and the weapon. He handed himself in to police in Hull on 22 October and pleaded guilty to murder in January.
Detective Inspector Stuart Barson praised the victim’s family for their strength and read a statement on their behalf:
“We have lost our beautiful daughter and shining light. No-one will ever take away the pain that’s been caused by this senseless act. She was the kindest, sweetest person anyone could meet and our lives will never be the same.”
Meanwhile, Nottinghamshire Police earlier this week charged 40-year-old Mary Onolunosen with assisting an offender. She is due to appear at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on 6 March.
