Guilty Of Murder: Law Graduate Who Stabbed Boyfriend In Heart

Arrested: Blaze Wallace

A law graduate, who plunged a kitchen knife into the heart of her unborn daughter’s father, has been convicted of murder.

Blaze Lily Wallace, 28, who had ambitions to become a human rights lawyer, followed Samuel Mayo, 34, after a domestic at their home and stabbed him in the street.

Witnesses heard his final, desperate words as he repeatedly shouted: “Please Blaze. I love you, please Blaze.”

Bare-chested Samuel suffered a fatal 4cm wound in Lower Richmond Road, Mortlake on July 18, last year and bled to death at around 9.45pm as he begged motorists and passers-by to call an ambulance.

The Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court jury of eight women and four men unanimously convicted Wallace after ten-and-a-half hours deliberation following the three-week trial.

They also unanimously convicted her of possessing an offensive weapon at the same time and place and she was remanded in custody to be sentenced on August 4. 

Judge Rajeev Shetty told the jurors: “Ms Wallace has been in Springfield psychiatric hospital until relatively recently and I need to get more information on her.”

The jury rejected Wallace’s claim Mayo was armed with an improvised sharpened wooden chopstick and she was simply using the knife to ward him off to protect herself and her unborn child.

Happier Times: Mayo & Wallace

Wallace graduated from St. Mary’s University, Twickenham with a law degree in 2017 and when arrested was one month short of completing her Masters in Human Rights & Legal Practice at the University of Roehampton.

She gave birth on March 30 after being transferred in custody to St. George’s Hospital and her older brother currently has care of her daughter.  

Both were under the influence of heroin, cocaine and cannabis that evening and had rowed at Wallace’s one-bedroom housing association flat in nearby Mullins Path.

CCTV footage showed Wallace deliberately following Mayo, while armed with the knife in her pocket, catching up with him outside the huge Stag Brewery.

“The defendant had clearly caught up with her intended victim and they disappear off camera to the left of the screen,” said prosecutor Jane Bickerstaff KC at the start of the trial.

“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.”

“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.

“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.”

Eight stone 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.

Locals heard some of his final words as he shouted: “Please Blaze. I love you, please Blaze.” 

Police officers arrived at Wallace’s home at 1.00am, but she failed to give them the same explanation, regarding the chopstick.

Wallace - now noticeably heavier than when she was arrested - told the jury why she did not want to talk to the officers. “My dad told me not to say anything and I had no solicitor. I did not want to spend the night in a cell, it was overwhelming.”

Describing that night’s events she explained: “I said: ‘Get the f*** out of my house,’ and he said: ‘You’re nasty,’ or something and then walked off.

“There was a big clean knife on the side and it freaked me out. The logical thing was to keep the knife on me out of harms way and I did not think to throw it in the bin,” she told the court.

“I saw him in the distance and tried to apologise to him for not letting him have a bath and went to say I was freaked out by his weapon-hiding and he pulled out a sharpened chopstick and said: ‘That’s what time it is.’

“It was wooden, but bladed, like a home-made shank, like an ice pick and he used it like an inconspicuous weapon.”

Wallace claimed Mayo had been physically abusive during their three-month relationship and had smashed her into a hallway mirror - cutting her hand - and punched her in the stomach the week before.

“He started moving his hand up until the chopstick was by my neck and said: ‘C’mon. Say pussy one more time.’

“I’ve frozen up and tried to back away from him and he has gone to grab me where the knife was in my pocket and I pulled the knife out of my pocket backwards and he has pulled the chopstick backwards off my neck.

“I put the knife out as a deterrent to get back and he has lunged forward and I did not get a chance to pull the knife back.

“He has got a mad look on his face and I have felt the knife go in quite hard.

“I said: ‘What’s wrong with you?’ and could see the slit in his chest and a tiny bit of blood on the knife and he started shouting: ‘Blaze, Blaze.’

“It was horrible. I did not mean any impact, I meant to gesture for him to get back,” Wallace told the jury.

“I was in fear of my belly and the foetus inside from either a punch or a stab. If I hadn’t had the knife on me I’d have to defend myself with my hands.

“I did not want to cause any harm. I wanted to deter him from attacking me by holding the knife out.”

No wooden chopstick was found in the area during the subsequent police investigation.

Romanian Burglar Admits Plot To Break Into OAP's Home

Peter Gouldstone

A Romanian “career criminal” has finally admitted his role in a plot to burgle a 98 year-old World War Two veteran, who died three weeks after the break-in.

Retired telephone engineer Peter Gouldstone was found on November 6, 2018 at the Evesham Road home in New Southgate he had lived in for over sixty years, suffering severe injuries, including two bleeds to the brain and extensive bruising.

His Panasonic television had been taken.

Homeless Romanian national Nicolae Ion, 31, - aka Patrascu - fought the charge until the day of his trial and was anxious to distance himself from Mr Gouldstone’s death. 

He was only caught when Metropolitan police rushed north to Edinburgh Airport to prevent his deportation. 

Prosecutor Simon Sandford told the court bearded Ion, who appeared in custody wearing grey tracksuit bottoms and a dark green sweatshirt, had been keen to only admit to the attempted burglary of Mr Gouldstone’s home.

“He says: ‘I was going to burgle the premises, but another team got there before me.’

“He accepts he was party to the burglary, but did not enter the premises itself.

“The concern is there was an elderly man on the premises who died shortly afterwards and the Crown would open that as a fact, but make it plain that the defendant was not party to the man that died.”

Ion pleaded guilty at Snaresbrook Crown Court to conspiring with persons unknown to burgle dwelling houses in New Southgate on or before November 6, 2018.

He had already pleaded guilty to burgling 248 Oaks Lane, Ilford on August 4, 2019, stealing jewellery; two suitcases; a television and two jewellery boxes.

He further pleaded guilty to the attempted burglary, with others, of 32 Manor Drive North, New Malden, south-west London on July 30, 2019.

Mr Sandford added: “He has also been committed to this court for dangerous driving so we have to arrange for all matters to be brought together.”   

Peter Gouldstone In Hospital

Ion also falls to be sentenced on two burglary counts he admitted during a separate hearing at Chelmsford Crown Court at addresses in Waltham Abbey and Bishop’s Stortford.

His lawyer David Langwallner failed to convince Judge Gerard Pounder to impose a Contempt of Court Order prohibiting publication of Ion’s link to an offence at Mr Gouldstone’s home.

“At the urging of my client there is a concern and he had nothing to do with the death of that man. There is a danger if he is named and the press link it by implication to this elderly man.

“My client did not go into that property and did not see the occupant and the Crown can put their case on that basis.

“What I’m concerned about is if the press report the matter by naming him without careful editing there may be a suggestion they name him as the person responsible.”

Judge Pounder did not make a contempt order. “It would be different if he was here on a charge of manslaughter, but he is not. There is no evidence he was responsible for causing it.

“There is noting to say he was responsible for the sad loss of life of the occupant.

“We need to fix a sentencing date for all the cases here. It will take a couple of hours and he will remain in custody until then.”

The judge told Ion: “You have pleaded guilty which is to your credit. We are going to see if you are sentenced here or Chelmsford. If it is here it will be on October 6.”

During a previous hearing prosecutor Jack Triggs told the court: “There are a number of other burglaries Ion is linked to with a similar ‘M.O.’ breaking through the front door and stealing property.”

In August, 2020 Ion received twenty-four weeks imprisonment for breaking into a residential property and stealing power tools.

He also received four weeks custody for breaking into a garden shed in 2020 and stealing a bike.

Police have also linked him forensically to burglaries in July and August, 2019, but no further action was taken because he had returned to his homeland.

Ion has has also pleaded guilty to another burglary in August, 2019 when a door was broken down and a television taken in Waltham Abbey and will be sentenced later.

“He does not have any right to be in the UK and when he was detained at Edinburgh Airport was going to be put on the next flight back to Romania and it was only the intervention of the police that prevented that,” explained Mr Triggs.

“He has failed to surrender five times during those cases and there is every likelihood that if granted bail he would return to Romania.

“There are strong grounds he will fail to surrender and commit further offences.

“He is linked to eight burglaries in this country that we know of. It seems he is a career criminal and he has convictions for twelve offences in Romania of theft and robbery-type.

“In his written bail application he says he has not committed any burglaries. That is clearly untrue.

“The majority of the burglaries were committed at night and some were when the occupants had left them empty for a number of days.

“Ion claims he was knocking on doors looking for scrap mental.”

Mr Gouldstone, who worked for the Post Office until retiring in 1980, was found dying at 10.00am on November 6, 2018 and passed away in hospital three weeks later.

A post-mortem confirmed the cause of death as complications of a traumatic head injury.

Law Grad Murder Trial: "I Was In Fear Of My Belly And The Foetus Inside"

Loved Up: Sam Mayo & Blaze Wallace

A law graduate, who plunged a kitchen knife into the heart of her unborn daughter’s father, told a murder trial: “I was in fear of my belly and the foetus inside,” when threatened with a sharpened wooden chopstick.

Blaze Lily Wallace, 28, who has ambitions to become a human rights lawyer, claims boyfriend Samuel Mayo, 34, produced the improvised home-made weapon during a row in the street on a sweltering night last summer.

Bare chested Mayo suffered a fatal 4cm wound in Lower Richmond Road, Mortlake on July 18, last year and bled to death at around 9.45pm as he begged motorists and passers-by to call an ambulance.

Wallace 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.

She gave birth on March 30 after being transferred in custody to St. George’s Hospital and has pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Mayo and possessing an offensive weapon, namely a kitchen knife.

Both were under the influence of heroin, cocaine and cannabis that evening and had rowed at Wallace’s one-bedroom housing association flat in nearby Mullins Path.

“I said: ‘Get the f*** out of my house,’ and he said: ‘You’re nasty,’ or something and then walked off,” she told the Kingston-upon-Thames Crown Court jury.

She followed him so they could “score” drugs together, claimed Wallace, admitting she grabbed the kitchen knife, believing it was one of many weapons Mayo hid all over her home.

“There was a big clean knife on the side and it freaked me out. The logical thing was to keep the knife on me out of harms way and I did not think to throw it in the bin,” she told the court.

“I saw him in the distance and tried to apologise to him for not letting him have a bath and went to say I was freaked out by his weapon-hiding and he pulled out a sharpened chopstick and said: ‘That’s what time it is.’

“It was wooden, but bladed, like a home-made shank, like an ice pick and he used it like an inconspicuous weapon.

“He said: ‘Are you sure you haven’t cheated on me?’ and he has got the chopstick out between his fingers.

“He put his right hand on my stomach and referring to the baby said: ’No, seriously,’ and I said: ‘Sam. get the f*** off’, because he punched me in the stomach the week previously.

“He started moving his hand up until the chopstick was by my neck and said: ‘C’mon. Say pussy one more time.’

“I’ve frozen up and tried to back away from him and he has gone to grab me where the knife was in my pocket and I pulled the knife out of my pocket backwards and he has pulled the chopstick backwards off my neck.

“I put the knife out as a deterrent to get back and he has lunged forward and I did not get a chance to pull the knife back.

“He has got a mad look on his face and I have felt the knife go in quite hard.

“I said: ‘What’s wrong with you?’ and could see the slit in his chest and a tiny bit of blood on the knife and he started shouting: ‘Blaze, Blaze.’

“It was horrible. I did not mean any impact, I meant to gesture for him to get back,” Wallace told the jury.

“I was in fear of my belly and the foetus inside from either a punch or a stab. If I hadn’t had the knife on me I’d have to defend myself with my hands.

“I did not want to cause any harm. I wanted to deter him from attacking me by holding the knife out.”

Wallace returned the short distance home and did not assist Mayo. “He was shouting at members of the public to call an ambulance and I had a knife on me and I panicked. I did not know he was going to die.”

No wooden chopstick was found in the area during the subsequent police investigation.

She told the jury her three-month relationship with Mayo had been a violent one and the court heard the deceased had an ABH conviction after repeatedly punching an ex-girlfriend.

“He was really argumentative and accused me of stealing his drugs and was really paranoid,” she explained, referring to a previous row. “He was quite aggressive and kicked my television over and was screaming in my face.”

Despite his aggression Wallace insisted she was in love with Mayo. “He was quite charismatic, he was funny and when he wasn’t doing crack he was nicer.

“He kept smashing the house up, mirrors, glasses, plates it was just a mess,” added Wallace, telling the trial Mayo hospitalised her just four days before the fatal stabbing.

“He shouted: ‘You ungrateful b****,’ and threw my phone at the back of my head and grabbed me from behind and tried to wrestle me to the ground, trying to smash my face off a Dyson hoover and then smashed me into a mirror.

“When the mirror smashed my head a shard sliced across my hand and he said: ‘Call your own f***ing ambulance’.

“By this time I wanted to break-up with him because he was scaring me.”

The jury were shown a photo of the cut across Wallace’s hand she says was caused by Mayo.

However, the prosecution say CCTV footage shows she deliberately followed Mayo while armed with the knife and with intent to inflict serious harm on him.

“The defendant had clearly caught up with her intended victim and they disappear off camera to the left of the screen,” said Jane Bickerstaff KC.

“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.”

“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.

“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.”

Eight stone 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.

Locals heard some of his final words as he shouted: “Please Blaze. I love you, please Blaze.” 

Police officers arrived at Wallace’s home at 1.00am, but she failed to give them the same explanation.

“My dad told me not to say anything and I had no solicitor,” she told the jury. “I did not want to spend the night in a cell, it was overwhelming.”

Trial continues………..