A MURDERER has been jailed for at least 19 years after he dramatically changed his plea to guilty of stabbing his pregnant girlfriend to death in her Redditch home.

Akeel Hussain admitted he had murdered 21-year-old Kirsty Wright in a “savage” attack which left her with around 60 stab wounds.

He changed his plea as the prosecution case came to an end at Worcester Crown Court.

The 29-year-old of Pembroke Croft, Hall Green, Birmingham, handed a note to Judge Robert Juckes, QC, via his barrister Darron Whitehead when he returned from the cells following a break after medical evidence on Monday morning.

The judge sent the jury away and proceeded straight to sentence after the unexpected turn of events.

He said the fact that Kirsty was 13 weeks pregnant with Hussain’s child was an aggravating feature and meant he must serve life with a minimum of 19 years in jail.

Prosecutor Paul Cooper had told the jury Kirsty had been in a relationship with Hussain for some months but was worried about his drug-taking, which began with cannabis and escalated to cocaine.

On the day of the murder, March 14 this year, he went to the five bedroomed home she shared with relatives in Evesham Road, Redditch.

He had been using cocaine and went around the house, looking for evidence that she had been cheating on him, Mr Cooper said.

He said Kirsty was swearing at him and calling him a “crackhead” and he stabbed her with a kitchen knife.

Several knives were recovered from the house. Hussain told police the first one had broken and he went to get others. As she lay on the floor after he stabbed her, he kicked her and stabbed her again in a savage attack, Mr Cooper said.

Medical experts told the jury she had wounds all over her body but just one of them would have been enough to kill her almost instantly, a five to seven centimetre cut in her neck which severed the carotid artery.

Kirsty was found by a young relative lying in a pool of blood on the floor of the conservatory.

Hussain claimed he was not responsible because of diminished responsibility caused by drug taking which led to feelings of paranoia and psychosis. But Mr Cooper said he did not have a recognised condition. He knew the drugs affected his mental state and took them voluntarily. Halfway through the trial, he decided not to carry on with the defence.