Jealous ex who murdered gifted graduate is jailed for life

A maths graduate who was "fuelled by jealousy" when he carried out the brutal murder of his "prodigiously gifted" former girlfriend has been jailed for life with a minimum of 15 years and 310 days.
(Left) Joe Atkinson, 25, who is to be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to the murder of his girlfriend (right) Poppy Devey Waterhouse at a Leeds flat in December 2018.(Left) Joe Atkinson, 25, who is to be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to the murder of his girlfriend (right) Poppy Devey Waterhouse at a Leeds flat in December 2018.
(Left) Joe Atkinson, 25, who is to be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to the murder of his girlfriend (right) Poppy Devey Waterhouse at a Leeds flat in December 2018.

Prosecutors explained how Joe Atkinson, 25, had failed to come to terms with Poppy Devey Waterhouse, 24, breaking off their three-year relationship in October 2018.

Leeds Crown Court heard on Friday how, in the early hours of December 14 last year, he burst into the flat they still shared on Richmond Hill, Leeds, and used a kitchen knife to inflict more than 100 separate injuries, including 49 knife injuries and 23 separate stab wounds all over her body.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Atkinson had initially denied murder, but reversed his plea.

(Left) Joe Atkinson, 25, who is to be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to the murder of his girlfriend (right) Poppy Devey Waterhouse at a Leeds flat in December 2018.(Left) Joe Atkinson, 25, who is to be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to the murder of his girlfriend (right) Poppy Devey Waterhouse at a Leeds flat in December 2018.
(Left) Joe Atkinson, 25, who is to be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to the murder of his girlfriend (right) Poppy Devey Waterhouse at a Leeds flat in December 2018.

Jason Pitter, prosecuting, said: "Poppy Devey Waterhouse was a prodigiously talented mathematician, who was described as brilliant and beautiful who, at the age of 24, had her whole life ahead of her.

"It was a life cruelly taken away from her just before Christmas last year, because this defendant realised he was not going to be a part of this future."

The prosecutor said, to tears from the victim's family: "He had armed himself with a kitchen knife and murdered Poppy in an unprovoked attack fuelled by jealousy."

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In a powerful victim impact statement that was read out in court, Miss Devey Waterhouse's mother, Julie Devey, said: "As a parent, my basic duty is to make sure that I keep my children safe. I failed, and I have to carry that failure with me at all times, wherever I go, whoever I am with, whatever I am doing."

She added: "I kept scraping my hands across the floor boards where she had been left screaming and dying.

"I just wanted to scoop her up and save her.

"I now live my life with a split-screen, on one half I can see the now, and on the other half that horrific scene."