Partner is found guilty of murder

A man who stabbed the mother of his child to death on a Black Country high street has today been found guilty of her murder.

David Palmer, of Mincing Lane in Rowley Regis, was found guilty of murdering his former partner Kerry Smith, aged 29, in Blackheath High Street on July 31 last year.

It took just one hour and 20 minutes for the jury of six men and six women to return a unanimous guilty verdict today.

Wolverhampton Crown Court had earlier heard Palmer, 40, had sunk a kitchen knife into Miss Smith three times because she denied him access to their one-year-old daughter Samantha.

After leaving Miss Smith lying bleeding on the pavement, Palmer ran away, punching an innocent bystander as he fled.

He had denied murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility, with forensic psychiatrist Jeremy Kenney-Herbert saying he suffered a "severe psychological disorder" which showed itself in his jealousy.