Young thief whose accomplice killed British woman while breaking into Australia cleared of murder

A young thief who broke into a British woman’s home with his accomplice and stabbed her to death was found not guilty of murder.

Mother-of-two Emma Lovell, 41, was killed outside her home in North Lakes, north of Brisbane, on Boxing Day, 2022, as the 17-year-old fended off two intruders.

The mother died from a single stab wound to the heart, and another man, who was not named because he was under 18 at the time of the attack, was sentenced to 14 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder in May.

A second man, who was 17 at the time of the attack and cannot be named, appeared in the Brisbane Supreme Court last week.

Today, Judge Michael Copley, who heard the case without a jury, found the man not guilty of manslaughter and intentional malicious act.

Lee Lovell, husband of victim Emma Lovell, was seen speaking to the media in the Queensland Supreme Court in Brisbane on Thursday.

Ms Lovell (left) was stabbed to death in an attack in the garden of her home in December 2022.

Mr Lovell said it was difficult not to be a ‘bitter, grieving husband’ after wife’s death

He was found guilty of one count of burglary in company in the middle of the night and one count of assault causing bodily harm in company.

“I am not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant was complicit in this murder,” the judge said.

Mr Lovell was visibly upset after the decision, which he claimed robbed his late wife of justice.

“You can’t object to a judge-only trial, so I have to get this done,” he told reporters outside court.

‘I feel like I’ve wasted some time coming forward with a theft charge.’

He also claimed that ‘the families are the ones who have to live with this afterwards and they (the perpetrators) can continue to do whatever they are doing’.

Ms Lovell emigrated to Australia from Suffolk in 2011 with her husband Lee, who survived the attack, and their two daughters.

In his sentencing remarks at the first hearing, Judge Tom Sullivan said Ms Lovell was described as an ‘energetic and beloved mother, wife, daughter and sister’.

The court heard the couple tried to fend off the intruders after being awakened by their dog barking at around 11.30pm.

Mr Lovell was also stabbed during a ‘physical struggle just outside the front door’ and was later moved to the front garden where his wife was fatally stabbed.

When the Lovells first arrived in Australia from England in 2002, they fell in love and decided to make it their permanent home.

Mr Lovell appears in the High Court in May where his wife’s killer was sentenced to 14 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder

Mr Lovell said ‘it is the families who have to live with this afterwards and they (the perpetrators of crime) can continue to do whatever they are doing’.

The mother-of-two, originally from Hasketon, moved to Australia to have the chance at a ‘better life’ for her family, her brother David Angel told the BBC.

Ms Lovell and her family celebrated Christmas Day 2022 with a special meal at the local beach, the day before she was stabbed to death at her home in North Lakes, Queensland, on Christmas Day.

Her husband wrote in a Facebook post on Christmas Day 2022, the day before her death: ‘So for the first time in 11 years we spent Christmas day at the beach and even managed to cook some bacon and eggs!’

‘I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas with their loved ones and friends.’

Hours after the post, the family returned to their bungalow in Brisbane’s North Lakes when they woke up to find intruders in the hallway.

Mr Lovell had forced one of the men out of the house when he heard his daughter say ‘mommy’s bleeding’. ‘I remember thinking at the time, ‘I can’t die, I can’t leave the children orphans,'” he recalled.

Miss Lovell suffered a chest injury. He was resuscitated but died later in hospital.