Square Mile News

Tuesday 20 June 2023

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………..

Sunday 18 June 2023

Music Biz Sleepover Grope Trial: A&R Man Cleared In Fifteen Minutes

A talent scout with music giants Parlophone has been cleared by a jury of sexually assaulting a female colleague during a sleepover, after claiming he was in the grip of ‘sexsomnia’.

The Inner London Crown Court jury took just fifteen minutes of deliberation to find A&R man Matthew Meape, 30, not guilty of the two counts.

During the week-long trial he claimed he slept through the entire incident, when the 28 year-old university graduate complainant said his hands were all over her.

Meape called Guy’s Hospital Consultant Neurologist Neil Munro a European Sleep Research Society accredited Somnologist - a sleep disorder specialist - to give evidence on his behalf.

It concludes a nearly four-year ordeal for Meape, who lost his job with the label as a result of the complaint in October, 2019 and he was then interviewed by police ten months later.

He had the additional stress of awaiting the police and Crown Prosecution decision to charge him and made his first court appearance in August, 2021, waiting nearly another two years for his jury trial.

He told the court: “I didn’t think anything had happened,” blaming ‘sexsomnia’ for his behaviour.

Meape, of Ada Road, Camberwell quit his music business degree course to accept a job with the label, which is part of the Warner Music Group empire and he was responsible for finding and developing new artists.

He ended a night of drinking and drug-taking in bed with two female work colleagues on either side at an address in Usborne Mews, Lambeth on October 10, 2019.

“I have always slept bad. I have never been a good sleeper and had this issue come up before,” he told the court.

Referring to his ex-girlfriend of eight years he explained: “She said that I would touch her in my sleep in varying degrees. I was aware it was possible, but I had no control.”

When asked by prosecutor Louise McCullough if he warned the two women about his sleep disorder Meape replied: “I wish I did say that.”

The distressed complainant fought through tears as she told the jury: “His arm turned very purposefully and he started stroking my skin under my top.

“As soon as he touched my skin I was in complete shock, I don’t think we had even hugged before.

“When he was stroking I realised he was awake and I felt very unsafe. He crossed a line without any regard for me or any boundaries.

“I made any small movements I could to protect my body and the stroking slowly moved up to my chest area,” added the woman, confirming she did not shout out at any point.

“I grabbed myself with both arms so he would not be able to touch my breasts and it felt like it was going on forever, twenty minutes or so.

“He tried to get his fingers under my hands, but I was so tight he just gave up.”

She fled to the bathroom, where she repeatedly texted her sleeping female colleague before returning to her side of the bed because she had nowhere to go and needed to charge her phone.

Meape’s lawyer Rebecca Lee asked her: “Was it really that traumatising since you got back into bed with the person you say had traumatised you?”

The woman said Mead’s behaviour intensified on her return. “I felt it was getting more aggressive and forceful.

“He was stroking his fingers down my face from my head and tried to put his fingers in my mouth three times.

“He was brushing different parts of my body around my bum and between my legs, stroking over my tights under my skirt.

“He was playing with the waistband of my tights and I remember shaking,” the complainant sobbed, adding Meape then pushed with more force between her legs.

“He had his feet overlocking mine and I felt I could not move and he was twisting into me.

“At that point I thought he was going to rape me.

“I could feel Matt grabbing me and thrusting towards me. He was using force, that’s all I can say and when I was lying there I knew he was awake.”

Meape told the jury he drank pints of Guinness after work at Kensington’s Devonshire Arms; bottles of Peroni at a nearby Holiday Inn bar, plus a shot of tequila, also taking cocaine at both locations.

He also took cocaine at the third colleague’s flat, where they agreed to sleepover and travel to work together the next morning.

“We sat on the bed talking, maybe we were up thirty to forty minutes and then just fell asleep at around 3am,” he said.

“I wasn’t very drunk, tipsy maybe and felt sharp due to the cocaine, that’s generally what it does.

“I think I was the first to fall asleep,” explaining his next memory was waking up alone in the bed.

“I didn’t think anything had happened. I just thought they had gone to work and not woken me up.”

Meanwhile, the complainant had reported him to Parlophone bosses.

“I got a call from the President of the company, saying I was suspended due to a complaint about my behaviour that night from another employee.”

His employment came to and end soon after, but he continues to work in the industry with artist management and events.

“I have now changed my lifestyle and am in and out of sobriety. I think your sleep pattern is not as good when you are drinking and since not drinking my sleep is better.”

At the start of the trial the prosecutor Louise McCullough told the jury: “There is an unusual feature of this case, which is that Mr Meape is raising a defence of ‘sexsomnia’ essentially behaving in a sexual manner in a sleep-like state.”

When questioned during a HR investigation at Parlophone Meape said: “I didn’t mean for anything to happen. I didn’t mean to do anything and while I was awake nothing happened.”

In a prepared statement to police Meape said: “I have no recollection of the alleged sexual touching.

“Once I fell asleep I have no recollection. I am mortified by this allegation and feel I might have a sleep issue.

“I may have to undergo and examination for a sleeping disorder.”

Friday 16 June 2023

Music Biz Sleepover Grope Trial: "I Didn't Think Anything Had Happened."

A talent scout with music giants Parlophone, accused of sexually assaulting a female colleague during a drunken sleepover, told a jury: “I didn’t think anything had happened,” blaming ‘sexsomnia’ for his behaviour.

A&R man Matthew Meape, 30, will call a consultant neurologist to confirm he was asleep and not aware of his actions when groping the woman.

Meape quit his music business degree course to accept a job with the label, which is part of the Warner Music Group empire and he is responsible for finding and developing new artists.

He ended a night of drinking and drug-taking in bed with his female work colleagues on either side and is accused of deliberately groping the 28 year-old university graduate.

Meape, of Ada Road, Camberwell has pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexually assaulting the woman at the address of another colleague in Usborne Mews, Lambeth on October 10, 2019.

He told Inner London Crown Court he drank pints of Guinness after work at Kensington’s Devonshire Arms; bottles of Peroni at a nearby Holiday Inn bar, plus a shot of tequila, also taking cocaine at both locations.

He also took cocaine at the third colleague’s flat, where they agreed to sleepover and travel to work together the next morning.

“We sat on the bed talking, maybe we were up thirty to forty minutes and then just fell asleep at around 3am,” Meape told the trial.

“I wasn’t very drunk, tipsy maybe and felt sharp due to the cocaine, that’s generally what it does.

“I think I was the first to fall asleep,” explaining his next memory was waking up alone in the bed.

“I didn’t think anything had happened. I just thought they had gone to work and not woken me up.”

Meanwhile, the complainant, who says Meape had his hands all over her during the night had reported him to Parlophone bosses.

“I got a call from the President of the company, saying I was suspended due to a complaint about my behaviour that night from another employee.”

His employment came to and end soon after, but he continues to work in the industry with artist management and events.

“I have always slept bad. I have never been a good sleeper and had this issue come up before,” he told the trial.

Referring to his ex-girlfriend of eight years he explained: “She said that I would touch her in my sleep in varying degrees. I was aware it was possible, but I had no control.”

When asked by prosecutor Louise McCullough if he warned the two women about his sleep disorder Meape replied: “I wish I did say that.

“I have now changed my lifestyle and am in and out of sobriety. I think your sleep pattern is not as good when you are drinking and since not drinking my sleep is better.”

At the start of the trial the prosecutor told the jury: “There is an unusual feature of this case, which is that Mr Meape is raising a defence of ‘sexsomnia’ essentially behaving in a sexual manner in a sleep-like state.”

Fighting through tears the complainant told the trial it was approximately 5.30am when she felt Meape touch her.

“His arm turned very purposefully and he started stroking my skin under my top. As soon as he touched my skin I was in complete shock, I don’t think we had even hugged before.