Woman’s tragic four-word question after boyfriend stabbed her 18 times | UK | News

A woman pleaded with a police officer “am I gonna die?” after her boyfriend stabbed her 18 times, a murder trial has heard.

Rebekah Campbell died following what was described as a “sustained and violent assault” inside her own home at Knowsley Heights in Huyton, Merseyside, earlier this year. The mortally wounded 32-year-old was heard to cry out “I’ve been stabbed” before eventually collapsing outside the block of flats where she lived, her clothing heavily soaked with blood. When neighbours rushed to her assistance, she then told them: “My fella stabbed me.”

Her partner Michael Ormandy went on trial at Liverpool Crown Court Monday, October 7, accused of her murder. Ormandy denies this charge, claiming to have acted in self-defence during the incident.

The 34-year-old, of Linacre Road in Litherland, was arrested on the canal towpath mere minutes after Ms Campbell’s death, having apparently thrown his phone into the water, the Liverpool Echo reports.

He told PCs at this stage “this wouldn’t have happened if you did your job last week”, referring to a previous altercation between the couple during a night out in Liverpool city centre three days earlier.

David McLachlan KC told a jury of nine men and three women during the prosecution’s opening: “On Tuesday, the 15th of April 2025, in the late evening, Rebekah Campbell was on the phone to her friend Faye Henderson. She was at home in her flat in Huyton, talking in general terms to Faye Henderson. That was something they would do regularly.

“While they were talking on the phone, Faye Henderson suddenly heard Rebekah Campbell shouting something along the lines of ‘go away, get out Mick’. She then heard a loud bang and puppies barking in the background.

“Thereafter, Faye Henderson did not hear anything else. So concerned was Faye Henderson, that she rang 999. Faye Henderson was right to be concerned about her friend, because, inside that flat in Huyton, on the fifth floor, Michael Ormandy, the man in the dock, stabbed his partner Rebekah Campbell many, many times. In reality, he stabbed her to death.

“When Faye Henderson arrived at the scene about 15 minutes later, she saw her friend, Rebekah Campbell, on the ground outside the flat. Rebekah Campbell had made her way outside and was being treated for her multiple stab wounds by police and paramedics. She was taken to hospital. Those trying to help her did their best. But, in the early hours of Friday, the 16th of April, she died. This, in short, is what this case is all about.”

Ormandy and Ms Campbell had reportedly been in a relationship for approximately four months before her death, though Ms Henderson stated that their partnership “was not going well” and her mate was “ready to end it”.

Another pal of the victim, Josh Collins, described how the “relationship changed as it went on”, with the accused known to “call her a slag or just stand at the bar and stare at her”. This witness also revealed how he had “seen them together before, arguing and pushing” on previous occasions.

One such confrontation reportedly took place three days earlier, on the evening of April 12, when Ms Campbell was said to have hurled a shoe at her boyfriend and struck him whilst they were out drinking in bars in the city centre.

A second “heated incident” then flared up between the pair later the same night, with the deceased seen “kicking out” at Ormandy before he hit her in the face.

She was said to have been left in tears after tumbling to the floor and sustaining a black eye as a result of this blow.

Three days later, in the late evening of April 15, Ormandy was spotted entering the apartment block where Ms Campbell lived whilst she was on the phone to Ms Henderson.

She was not said to have mentioned that she was expecting to be visited by her partner before her friend “heard a loud bang and puppies barking in the background”, after which the line “went quiet”.

Ms Henderson rang 999 as a result, with Ormandy captured on CCTV leaving the building before Ms Campbell emerged from her flat and screamed “I’ve been stabbed”.

One neighbour then peered out of her window and witnessed her collapse onto the ground outside, with her yellow tank top being left drenched in blood. As locals rushed to her aid, she was heard repeatedly saying “my fella stabbed me”.

Once in the ambulance, she asked “am I gonna die?” while being rushed to Aintree Hospital, to which an officer responded: “You are hurt, but you are in the best place now.”

Tragically, Ms Campbell was declared dead at 12.46am the next day, April 16, despite the medics’ best efforts. Ormandy had been apprehended just six minutes prior, initially on suspicion of attempted murder, on a canal towpath.

As he was being searched, he told police: “This wouldn’t have happened if you did your job last week.”

A mobile phone was later retrieved from the canal, after Ormandy seemingly tried to dispose of it. After Ms Campbell’s death, he was re-arrested on suspicion of murder and interviewed at Copy Lane Police Station the following evening.

In a prepared statement, Ormandy described the incident on April 12, saying “everyone was drunk, but Rebekah was more out of control than the others” and remembered that she “had slapped him across the face”. He said he had “struck out in self defence” when she attacked him again.

On the night of Ms Campbell’s demise, he claimed that she had instantly yelled “I’ve got a knife” as he entered the property and alleged to have seen such a weapon in her right hand. After purportedly trying to disarm her, he described how his girlfriend “remained on top of him and was attacking him”, and that he “responded by punching her to her body in self-defence” before he managed to “push her onto the sofa”.

Ormandy, who appeared in court wearing a white short-sleeved shirt and red tie, with a shaved head, told detectives during a second interview that he was seen wearing gloves after the incident because he had “blood pouring out of his hand”. Regarding Ms Henderson, he added: “Faye is jealous of us because she spends more time with me than she does with her. That’s all I’ve got to say.”

The next day, Ormandy provided another prepared statement during a third round of questioning. In it, he stated about the incidents on April 12 that “if the police had arrested Rebekah Campbell on this date, there would have been no further incident which led to him acting in self-defence”, while he mentioned that he had been staying at his girlfriend’s home “at her request” for two-and-a-half weeks after she had given him a spare key.

A Home Office post-mortem examination later disclosed that Ms Campbell had suffered a total of 27 “incised wounds” during a “sustained, violent assault”, consisting of 18 stab wounds and nine slash wounds which were “concentrated on the left side of the body”.

A pathologist determined that this was “in keeping with the use of severe force”, with injuries on her left arm also described as “indicative of defence injuries as she tried to fend off an attack”.

Her cause of death was ultimately recorded as being stab wounds to the chest.

Mr McLachlan added: “In conclusion, members of the jury, it is the prosecution case that, on the 15th of April of this year, Michael Ormandy, the man in the dock, went to Rebekah Campbell’s flat and attacked her with a knife. He stabbed her many, many times in what, on any version of events, must have been a sustained and violent assault, which led to her untimely death.

“In relation to the issues you will consider and grapple with in this case, you know that Michael Ormandy denies murder. His defences to the charge of murder appears to be as follows. Number one, that he was acting in self-defence. Number two, that he did not form the necessary intent to kill or to cause really serious harm, this being an essential ingredient of the offence of murder.”

Mr McLachlan, supported by junior counsel Henry Riding, concluded his argument by pointing to the dock and stating: “The prosecution say that, in simple terms, when you put all of the evidence together, the finger points fairly and squarely at him, Michael Ormandy, as being responsible for murdering Rebekah Campbell. This was not, and never could be, self defence.

“His intent was clear at the outset. It was an intention to kill rather than an intention to cause really serious harm, given the number of wounds that were inflicted by him on Rebekah Campbell. The prosecution case is that this was murder.”

Ormandy, defended by Nick Johnson KC and Daniel Travers, denies one count of murder. The trial, presided over by the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC, continues and is anticipated to last approximately two weeks.