Ian Bennett killed his girlfriend of only a few weeks inside her home over his false belief she was having a affair. He pretended he found her body and cried in front of police when they turned up to the scene.
In reality he had repeatedly stabbed his new partner to death, today he has been jailed for her murder, after police found footage of him throwing at least one of the two knives he used into a canal in Solihull. Ian Bennett was driven to a canal bridge by his mother Lynda, early on 12 July, 2020, shortly after he’d brutally killed Kerry Woolley. Later that afternoon the 38-year-old then called 999, telling police officers he had found the mother-of-two with catastrophic wounds to her neck at her flat in Warwick Road.
Family
In a victim impact statement read to the court her family described Kerry as a ‘beautiful, bubbly lady who had a heart of gold’. They went on to say that it is “unbearable to think that she will not get to see her children grow up”. Bennett told officers he’d left the flat in the early hours of 12 July and had then been unable to get back in contact with Ms Woolley. Although initially no weapon could be located Bennett was arrested on suspicion of murder.
Motive
Officers analysed text messages between the couple, who had only met a few weeks before, and they suggested that there had been a falling out a couple of days earlier. Bennett appeared to be angry, accusing Ms Woolley of cheating on him, although this was groundless, and that she was also messaging a former partner. He even went so far as to research online the ‘best way to get revenge on a woman’. Mobile phone data also revealed that both Bennett’s and Ms Woolley’s phones went ‘silent’ around 11.30pm on 11 July, which was unusual as Ms Woolley was regularly on her phone into the early hours. Bennett’s phone did become active again at 3.54am, when he made attempts to contact her, before continuing to try to call and message her throughout the following day, whilst knowing full-well that she was in fact already dead.
Evidence
A dashcam in Lynda Bennett’s car was also examined and indicated that the car had left the address Bennett shared with his parents in Moordown Avenue and took a 40 minute journey round the Solihull area. Cell site data retrieved from her phone was consistent with the 63-year-old being the driver. There were two significant stops, firstly at Damson Lane, where CCTV footage retrieved by officers clearly showed Ian Bennett throwing a bundle into the canal. A large knife with a bent blade was later recovered during a search of the water. Another search, this time of the park land, resulted in a bag being recovered and inside were blood-stained women’s jogging bottoms and a pair of oven gloves.Forensic examinations later matched Ms Woolley’s DNA to both the knife from the canal and the blood-stained items found in the park.
Cause of death
A post mortem revealed that Ms Woolley had suffered more than 50 knife wounds, most inflicted on her neck. Two knives had been used, one with a serrated blade, the second with a smooth blade. And that is the knife retrieved from the canal. Ian Bennett, of Moordown Avenue, Solihull, who had denied murder, was yesterday was found guilty at Birmingham Crown Court. Today he was sentenced to life, with a minimum term of 25 years. His mother Lynda, also of Moordown Avenue, had denied assisting an offender and perverting the course of justice. But she too was convicted yesterday and today jailed for three years. Detective Sergeant Rory Juss, from FCID, said: “Ian Bennett unleashed a vicious and brutal attack on Kerry Woolley, a woman he had only been in a relationship with for a matter of a few short weeks. “He then chose to blatantly lie about what had happened but quickly became unstuck as the evidence mounted up against him. “In particular the dashcam from his mother’s car showed how he’d enlisted her help as he disposed of the items that would ultimately tie him to his crime. “Neither Ian Bennett nor his mother Lynda have once shown any remorse for their part in this terrible crime and it was pleasing to see that the evidence we were able to put before the jury enabled them to see through their lies. “Our thoughts have always been with Kerry’s family, and we hope that Bennett’s conviction, and also that of his mother, can now bring them some comfort. “Today her family asked us to release these words in tribute to Kerry: “We as a family never gave up hope that Kerry would turn her life around. We continued to support her throughout but Ian Bennett has taken that chance away and we will never forgive him for that.”
