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A yoga teacher is facing life in prison after being found guilty of murdering her lodger after a jury rejected her claim she acted in self defence.
Dawn Lewis, 53, was convicted of stabbing Glenn Richards, 61, to death at her home, allegedly as she wanted to evict him.
Richards moved to Glastonbury, Somerset, after being released from prison for killing his former wife in 2011, and moved in with the defendant last August. The court was told that the pair would often argue and he would complain about her noise.
Giving evidence during her trial, Lewis claimed she feared for her life during a “struggle” with the knife and claims he had tried to kill her.
But after nearly nine hours of deliberations, the jury rejected her claim that she was only defending herself when she carried out the fatal stabbing in April.
During the three-week trial, the court was told that detectives became suspicious of her account after the doctor who treated her leg wounds suggested they appeared to be self-inflicted.
An associate of Lewis then informed officers that she’d told him she wanted Richards to move out of her house.
He described a video call with her just hours before the incident in which she’d showed him a knife and spoke of stabbing Richards in his bedroom before doing the same to herself so she could claim self-defence.
Detectives also uncovered aggressive voicemails left by Lewis and text messages between the pair that cast doubt on her version of events.
She was found guilty at Bristol Crown Court on Thursday by a majority of 11 to one.
More follows...
