Woman asked police ‘am I gonna die?’ after boyfriend stabbed her 18 times

Rebekah Campbell died following what was described as a “sustained and violent assault” inside her own home

A woman tragically asked a police officer “am I gonna die?” after being stabbed 18 times by her boyfriend, a murder trial was told. Rebekah Campbell lost her life following what was characterised as a “sustained and violent assault” within her own flat at Knowsley Heights in Huyton earlier this year.

The critically wounded 32-year-old was heard crying out “I’ve been stabbed” before she tragically collapsed outside her apartment block, her clothing soaked with blood. When neighbours hurried to help, she said to them: “My fella stabbed me.”

Her boyfriend, Michael Ormandy, faced his first day of trial at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, charged with her murder. However, he refuted the accusation, asserting that he acted in self-defence during the incident.

Ormandy, 34, from Linacre Road in Litherland, was apprehended on a canal towpath just minutes after Ms Campbell’s death, having seemingly discarded his mobile into the water. He told officers at the scene “this wouldn’t have happened if you did your job last week”, alluding to a prior dispute between the pair during a night out in Liverpool city centre three days before.

David McLachlan KC informed a jury of nine men and three women during the prosecution’s opening statement this afternoon: “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 were reported to have been in a relationship for about four months before her tragic demise, reports the Liverpool Echo. However, according to Ms Henderson, their relationship “was not going well” and her friend was “ready to end it”.

Another friend of the deceased, Josh Collins, described how the “relationship changed as it went on”, with the defendant known to “call her a slag or just stand at the bar and stare at her”.

The witness also recounted seeing the couple “seen them together before, arguing and pushing” on several prior occasions. One such spat reportedly took place three days earlier, on the evening of 12 April, when Ms Campbell was alleged to have hurled a shoe at her boyfriend and slapped him during a night out in city centre pubs.

A second “heated incident” flared up between the pair later that same night, with the deceased seen “kicking out” at Ormandy before he hit her in the face. She was reported to have been left sobbing after falling to the ground and sustaining a black eye from this punch.

Fast forward three days to the late hours of 15 April, Ormandy was spotted entering the flat complex where Ms Campbell lived while she was on a call with Ms Henderson. She hadn’t mentioned expecting a visit from her partner before her friend “heard a loud bang and puppies barking in the background”, followed by silence on the line.

Ms Henderson promptly dialled 999, with CCTV capturing Ormandy leaving the building before Ms Campbell emerged from her flat shouting “I’ve been stabbed”. A neighbour peered out of her window to see her collapse onto the pavement outside, her yellow vest stained with blood.

When locals rushed to her assistance, she was repeatedly heard saying “my fella stabbed me”. As she was being whisked away in an ambulance to Aintree Hospital, she asked a tragic question: “am I gonna die?” An officer responded: “You are hurt, but you are in the best place now.”

Tragically, despite the valiant efforts of medical staff, Ms Campbell was declared dead at 12.46am on the following day, April 16. Ormandy had been apprehended just six minutes prior, initially under suspicion of attempted murder, on a canal towpath.

As he was being frisked, he told the 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. Following Ms Campbell’s death, he was re-arrested on suspicion of murder and questioned at Copy Lane Police Station the next evening.

In a pre-prepared statement, Ormandy recounted the events of April 12, stating that “everyone was drunk, but Rebekah was more out of control than the others” and remembered that she “had slapped him across the face”. He claimed that he had then “struck out in self defence” when she attacked him again.

Regarding the night of Ms Campbell’s death, he claimed that she had instantly yelled “I’ve got a knife” as he entered the property and alleged that he saw such a weapon in her right hand. After apparently 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 “able to push her on to the couch”.

Ormandy, dressed in a white short-sleeved shirt and red tie in the dock with a shaved head, told detectives during a second interview that he was seen wearing gloves after the incident because he had “blood p***ing 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 commented on the incidents on April 12, stating “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 subsequent Home Office post-mortem examination disclosed that Ms Campbell had suffered a shocking 27 “incised wounds” in what was described as a “sustained, violent assault”, made up of 18 stab wounds and nine slash wounds that were “concentrated on the left side of the body”.

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

Her death was officially attributed to stab wounds to the chest.

Mr McLachlan continued: “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, who was supported by junior counsel Henry Riding, then gestured towards the dock as he concluded: “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, who is represented by Nick Johnson KC and Daniel Travers, denies one count of murder. The trial, before the Honorary Recorder of Liverpool Judge Andrew Menary KC, continues, and is expected to last for around two weeks.