A drugged-up woman who murdered her mother’s ‘best friend’ by stabbing him through the heart will serve at least 20 years behind bars.
Rebecca Press, 31, was under the influence of drink and drugs when she plunged a three-inch kitchen knife into the chest of Marc Ash, who was trying to calm her down after a night out.
Leaving her victim in a pool of blood, Press calmly walked into her mother’s bedroom and said: ‘I have stabbed your f****** best friend’, before running away.
The pink-haired killer then left a chilling message on her ex-boyfriend’s phone, saying: ‘Ash, It’s really bad. It’s really f****** bad.
‘I’ve just stabbed someone and killed them. I’ve just murdered someone. Please phone me now. F*** (screams). I’ve just murdered someone.’
Jailed: Pink-haired killer Rebecca Press was high on drugs when she plunged a three-inch knife into the chest of Marc Ash, 57, killing him
Press was captured on CCTV walking with Mr Ash, who she stabbed to death hours later in a barbaric attack
Two emergency response doctors carried out open heart surgery on the father-of-one but his injury were ‘unsurvivable’. He was declared dead at 2am.
Press was staying with her mother Michelle, 53, after splitting from boyfriend Ashley Allen and had just discovered he was cheating on her.
Mr Ash, who lived next door to Press’s mother, had been trying to calm the 31-year-old down when she stabbed a knife through his heart.
In the hours leading up to the killing, Press had been drinking at her mother’s home in New Tredegar, Caerphilly, south Wales.
She continued her booze-fuelled day, later heading out with Mr Ash to the New Tredegar Rugby Club and the Dynevor Arms.
Footage released by prosecutors today showed Press and Mr Ash walking through the streets together in the afternoon of July 16, before heading back later that evening before midnight.
Upon returning to the flat she arrived at the same time as her brother Gavin Press who told her Mr Allen had been having an affair.
Press and Mr Ash were caught on CCTV heading back after a night out drinking – hours before the killing took place
Press then launched her attack on the ‘kind and caring’ Mr Ash before fleeing.
Police and paramedics were called to the murder scene in New Tredegar, Caerphilly, south Wales, at 2am on July 17 last year.
Press tried to escape having left the flat and hid in a bush, telling a passerby: ‘Get me from here, I need to get from here.’
But she was caught by police at 3.15am while walking back to her mother’s house.
The killer feigned surprise when she was arrested, telling officers: ‘On suspicion of what?… What, has someone died?’
Cardiff Crown Court was told that when officers told her Marc Ash was dead she replied: ‘He was my mother’s neighbour. What – he’s dead? Oh well.’
Press had taken four valium earlier in the day before going drinking with Mr Ash at the Dynevor Arms pub and New Tredegar Rugby Club.
But her previous good mood turned to anger when she became trapped inside a toilet cubicle due to a faulty lock.
The court heard she had become ‘increasingly drunk’ prompting Mr Ash to call her mother to say she was ‘playing up’.
When she returned to her mother’s home her brother Gavin Press broke the news that her boyfriend was having an affair.
Press initially denied Mr Ash’s murder and claimed she had acted in self-defence. Her trial began last week but today, on the fifth day of the trial, she changed her plea to guilty of murder
Mr Press told the court how his sister picked up a kitchen knife and threatened to stab him with it.
He said Mr Ash and Press began ‘shouting and screaming’ at each other before she raised her knife and ‘stabbed him in the chest’.
Prosecutor Jonathan Rees KC told the jury: ‘The full length of the blade – up to the handle – plunged into his chest, some 7.5cm or so, and pierced the aortic arch above his heart.
‘Mr Ash rapidly lost blood from the injured aortic arch leading to his cardiac arrest and death.’
Press was described as ‘oddly calm and jovial’ in a police custody suite.
She was found to have alcohol, bromazolam, etizolam, amphetamine, MDMA, and THC in her system. More than 600 tablets containing MDMA and bromazolam were found in her possession.
In a prepared statement she told officers: ‘I didn’t intend to stab him in the chest but I accept this is what I did.
‘I had no intention to kill Marc, I was acting in self-defence and used reasonable force in the circumstances.’
She told detectives she picked up ‘the closest item to me from the kitchen worktop, which was a knife and I have hit him with it’.
Press, of New Tredegar, denied murder claiming self defence but five days into the trial she changed her plea to guilty.
A trial at Cardiff Crown Court heard Press left a voicemail saying: ‘Ash it’s really bad. It’s really f***ing bad. ‘I’ve just stabbed someone and killed them. I’ve just murdered someone.. Please phone me now. F*** (screams). I’ve just murdered someone’
Rebecca Press (pictured), 31, fatally wounded Richard Marc Ash at her mother Michelle Press’ home in New Tredegar, Caerphilly, Wales, on July 17 last year
She had 16 previous offences including an assault on an emergency worker, fraud and breaches of public order.
Recorder of Cardiff Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke jailed Press for life with a minimum of 20 years due to the aggravating features of the murder.
The judge told her: ‘It is clear you have caused the most terrible grief to Mr Ash’s family.
‘You were under the influence of drink and drugs, your mother had warned you not to drink after taking valium.
‘It was not planned or premeditated – but you want looking in the kitchen drawer for a knife and with a single overarm blow stabbed Mr Ash in the chest.
‘You then threatened to do further harm to Mr Ash as he lay dying.’
A second charge of actual bodily harm against her mother Michelle by headbutting her will lie on the file.
