Man guilty of girlfriend's murder in car park

A man has been found guilty of murdering his girlfriend in a disused car park in Crawley.

Jason Flore, 26, a rough sleeper originally from Mauritius, stabbed his partner, 19-year-old mother Stephanie Marie, through the heart last August.

Throughout the trial, Flore denied killing Ms Marie, claiming he was not present at the time of the killing and accusing two other people of the killing instead.

But a jury at Hove Crown Court on Wednesday found Flore guilty of the murder.

During the trial, jurors were told how witnesses heard Flore and Ms Marie arguing in the moments before the attack at 07:10 BST on 18 August.

Commuters described Flore fleeing the scene with his dog. He then discarded his jogging bottoms, stained with Ms Marie's blood, in a bush.

Police later saw his replacement pair were also stained with blood.

Flore called 999 to report that Ms Marie had been stabbed and had stopped breathing.

When the operator asked if Flore was with Ms Marie, he responded: "No I'm leaving her. I don't want to be here."

The operator then asked if the person who stabbed Stephanie was still on the scene, to which Flore replied: "I don't know, I don't know. It's not me though."

Flore told the operator he did not know Ms Marie.

When paramedics arrived, they were unable to revive Ms Marie, saying a knife had been pushed deeply into her chest, through her heart and aorta.

The jury were told how Flore had been sharing a tent with Ms Marie next to Crawley Railway Station and had attended a barbecue in the car park with some friends the evening before the attack.

Flore will be sentenced on Thursday.

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