A CAGE fighter who murdered his ex-girlfriend and tried to kill her 15-year-old lover was today jailed for life.
Career criminal Paul Robson, 50, was today sentenced for brutally attacking Caroline Kayll with a meat cleaver and kitchen knife.
Robson was handed the life sentence with a minimum of 35 years for murder at Newcastle Crown Court.
As well as murdering his ex-girlfriend, he was also found guilty of trying to kill the teenager and of blackmailing Caroline, 47, over her illicit relationship with the child.
He was sentenced to 35 years for attempted murder and five years for blackmail – with all three sentences running concurrently.
Robson showed no reaction when the sentences were read out in court today.
Mr Justice Lavender said "this is almost a double murder" as he jailed Robson for life.
Passing the sentence, Mr Lavender did not accept there was any provocation for the attack, telling Robson: "You were upset when you learned of her relationship but you had known of it for over two weeks when you chose to drive from Glasgow to her home".
Prosecutor Nicholas Lumley QC said the boy had been left deeply traumatised by the attacks.
He said: “His mother said he is very, very affected by what occurred to him.
"The simple fact is that this will remain with him for the rest of his life.”
The judge added that the youth suffered "gruesome" injuries and that the boy's mother has described his ordeal as a "living nightmare" that he and his family will never recover from.
HOW YOU CAN GET HELP:
Women’s Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – [email protected].
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service available. from 10am to noon.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
Robson had an on-off relationship with former prison teacher Caroline Kayll which stretched over 15 years.
But when he discovered she had been sleeping with the teen he began blackmailing her.
He demanded £35,000 and threatened to “ruin her” professionally and personally if she didn’t cough up.
She used her life savings to hand over £29,000 but vicious brute Robson hatched a plan to wreak even more violent revenge.
He drove 150 miles from Glasgow to her home in Linton, Northumberland, where he subjected her and the lad to a horrific ordeal.
Robson used a meat cleaver, scissors and kitchen knife to repeatedly stab them both and cut off Caroline’s hair.
He stamped on her head and neck and slashed her across the buttocks and neck before going on the run.
Caroline was kept alive on a life support machine but died 36 hours later.
The boy suffered 45 injuries but recovered after emergency surgery.
Convicted burglar and drug dealer Robson – described as a “cruel and calculating coward” in court – was later arrested in Scotland.
CPS footage of Robson shows him arguing with police in a cell.
Prosecutor Lumley QC told the trial at Newcastle Crown Court: “The defendant was a well built and powerful man. He decided he was going to confront Caroline that night.
“Before he did so he went to Homebase and bought two bottles of ammonia, a pack of screwdrivers, a pair of pliers and adjustable wrench.
“Those items and a locksmith device he bought shows he was prepared to use force to enter her home and he planned to use the ammonia as well.
“Caroline and the boy were attacked and viciously so.
“As he left her for dead he paused to take her phone and also took the boy’s phone leaving them with no means of calling for help – the actions of a vindictive man.”
Caroline, a keen horse rider who had previously been a cop and a social worker, met Robson while working as a physical education instructor at HMP Northumberland where he was serving a sentence and where her husband Ian Kayll was a prison manager.
'A VINDICTIVE MAN'
Robson told the trial their relationship started in 2005 and spanned two sentences and 15 years.
Caroline and her husband separated in 2018 with Mr Kayll still unaware she was involved with Robson.
He was released from prison in the autumn of 2018 and a year later moved in with Caroline at her home in Linton, Northumberland.
But in the autumn of 2020 their relationship hit the rocks. They split in late September, got back together briefly and then separated again.
Robson then discovered that Caroline, by now working as a teacher at a school, had begun a relationship with the teenager, who can’t be named for legal reasons.
He began sending her threatening texts demanding money.
On November 15 he drove from Glasgow, where he was staying with a friend, to Linton where CCTV caught him “prowling and snooping” around Caroline’s house.
He entered the house by some rear patio doors and brutally attacked Caroline.
He then went upstairs and assaulted the lad leaving him with 45 injuries and covered in blood.
The lad told the jury: “He gets scissors and comes into the room and he was on my back, not saying anything.
“I said: ‘Whoah, what’s it about?’ but he was on my back, he’s canny heavy, he took hold of my shoulders and stabbed me. He’s holding me with one hand, stabbing me with the other.
“I was fighting with him, I was saying ‘whoah’. He gets up and says: ‘Don’t move or I’ll kill you’ and he came back with bigger blade, a 7in blade, I have seen it in the kitchen drawer.
“He stabbed me in the back and stabbed me a few times in the struggle.”
Robson, of Wallsend, North Tyneside, was arrested in Glasgow the day after Caroline’s life support machine was turned off.
Northumbria Police’s Detective Inspector Graeme Barr, the senior investigating officer, said: “This is one of the most violent offences I have investigated in my policing career.
“Paul Robson has been fuelled by a jealous rage and attended his former address that night with one thing on his mind.
“His attack on Caroline and his teenage victim was pre-meditated and demonstrated horrendous levels of violence.
“There is no doubt he wanted to kill or permanently disfigure both of his victims. He succeeded in killing his former partner and has left his teenage victim scarred for life.
“Not only that, but he spent the days that followed trying to avoid police before attempting to pin Caroline’s murder on a vulnerable, teenage boy.
“Those actions have put the teenage victim, his family and Caroline’s family through the ordeal of a trial and I want to praise the bravery they have shown throughout these proceedings.”
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