Murder Trial: 'Law Graduate Stabbed Boyfriend To Death'

Blaze Wallace & Sam Mayo

A law graduate with ambitions to be a human rights lawyer plunged a kitchen knife into her boyfriend’s heart when he stormed out of their flat after another row, a court heard yesterday.

Blaze Lily Wallace, 28, fatally wounded Samuel Mayo, 34, after following him from their Mortlake, south-west London home, Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court was told.

She graduated from St. Mary’s University, Twickenham with a law degree in 2017 and at the time of her arrest was studying her Masters in Human Rights & Legal Practice at the University of Roehampton.

However, the couple had a stormy drug-fuelled relationship and an upstairs neighbour heard Mayo shouting: “I’m done with you, you’re nasty,” minutes before he was killed.

Wallace has pleaded not guilty to Murdering Mr Mayo and possessing an offensive weapon, namely a kitchen knife, in Lower Richmond Road on July 18, last year.

Prosecutor Jane Bickerstaff KC told the jury the couple had been living together six months.: “They were in a relationship and had been living together in her one-bedroom flat in Mullins Path, Mortlake.

Sam Mayo & Blaze Wallace

“It seems to have been a volatile relationship, characterised by frequent arguments.

“The pair had been arguing on the day of Mr Mayo’s death and it seems he had decided enough was enough and he packed a bag and left at about 9.30 that evening.

“He can be traced on CCTV cameras, following a route away from Mullins Path and towards Mortlake centre and Ms Wallace followed him.

“She can be traced on the same cameras, following the same route, but six minutes behind him.

“A camera pointing onto Lower Richmond Road, from the entrance of the Stagg Brewery captured the pair together, walking past at a few seconds before 9.45pm.

“The defendant had clearly caught up with her intended victim and they disappear off camera to the left of the screen.

“The incident is not captured on CCTV footage, but in just under thirty seconds Mayo appears back on screen and he is now fatally injured.

“He can be seen to run into the road and back onto the pavement on the other side of the road, where he collapsed and died.”

The prosecutor said it was significant Wallace was wearing a heavy cardigan on one of the warmest nights of the year, but had discarded it when her image was captured on CCTV at 11.00pm.

The CCTV footage before the stabbing captured her with he right arm fixed to her side, with her hand seemingly in her pocket, the jury were told.

“It is the Crown’s case that the defendant had a large kitchen knife concealed at her right side. She took it out and stabbed Mr Mayo once, straight into his heart,” explained the KC.

“We say this was intentional and with no lawful reason and the defendant’s intention at the time was to kill her boyfriend, or at the very least to cause him really serious harm.”

Wallace admits she followed her skinny eight-stone boyfriend while armed with the knife and stabbed him, but will claim self-defence.

Mayo ran into the middle of the road, shouting for an ambulance and collapsed by a garden wall and was assisted by passing motorist Anais Tolfree.

“She describes his breathing as being shallow and she tried to speak with him, however did not get any response,” said Ms Bickerstaff. 

“Another member of the public was crouched down by the male talking to him and also received no response.”

Mayo bled to death at the scene and when police arrived at 9.57pm they immediately recognised him as a local drug user, who regularly begged outside Tesco’s and Mortlake train station.

He was taken to Kingston Hospital and pronounced dead at 10.33pm.

Officers arrived at Wallace’s home at 1.00am and meanwhile she had packed a rucksack and got on a train and then an Uber, but ended up back at her address.

“They found her behaving rather oddly. Despite what we now know had just happened the defendant said not a word to the police about knowing Mr Mayo had been stabbed, nor about her involvement.

“She is described as being evasive and hostile towards the police and was typing on a laptop and said she was on Facebook Messenger to their father.

“She refused to show police the messages and shut down and locked the computer.”

Wallace told the officers she had an argument with her boyfriend and last saw him at Mortlake station at around 10.00pm.

Despite giving her no details about Mayo’s death Wallace asked the officers: “Did he get stabbed? Did he get murdered?”

Wallace continued to act strangely, asking the police if they were genuine officers and pursuing repetitive questions and suggesting some mystery person had got into her home, the jury heard.

“You can infer from this that her behaviour was a deliberate ruse,” the prosecutor told the jury. “She knew full well that Sam had been stabbed because the evidence and her admission is she was the one who did it.”

A train passenger, Stephanie Slater, witnessed the couple “having a domestic” just before 6.30pm that day at Mortlake station, describing the female as the aggressor and the male trying to defend his position.

A neighbour, Patricia Blake, also heard Wallace shouting at Mayo that day. “The female spoke in a really vitriolic, vicious tone and the male seemed to be the appeaser.,” explained the prosecutor.

Another train station witness, Iain Main, described Mayo as the aggressor, believing the couple were either drunk or on drugs as they argued publicly.

An upstairs neighbour heard Mayo shout shortly before he was stabbed: “I’m done with you, you’re nasty,” as he left the address with some belongings.

Moments before the stabbing a Mortlake Green resident heard an aggressive female shouting: “I just want to talk to you. Ah, the real Sam is coming out now.”

A Lower Richmond Road resident, Christopher Simpson, heard some of Mayo’s last words, shouting: “Please Liz!” up to eight times and: “I love you, please Liz. Please Liz, I love you.”

“The clear inference therefore is that Sam Mayo was saying: “Please Blaze,” and it was misheard as Liz,” explained Ms Bickerstaff. 

A post mortem revealed a 4cm stab wound had penetrated Mr Mayo’s heart, causing rapid blood loss and shock.

Traces of heroin, cocaine and cannabis were found in his blood and the same drugs were found in Wallace’s urine, plus methadone.

The only recently-cleaned kitchen knife found at her home was consistent with the type of blade that caused the fatal injury.

“The obvious inference is that the knife had just been cleaned to remove any evidential traces,” added Ms Bickerstaff.

She had also prepared a half-packed black bag near her front door, containing her passport, birth certificate and some food.

Over the next three days police interviewed Wallace four times and she answered “no comment” to all questions.

The trial is expected to last three weeks.