46-year-old man in Liverpool, UK was left with ear hanging off after confronting killer who had just killed his ex-girlfriend in knife attack
Ex-cage fighter Andrew Wadsworth, 37, was caught on CCTV chasing Gerard Bristow with a 10in knife on May 20, after killing Bristow’s neighbor
Bristow, 46, and another passerby had confronted Wadsworth as he was leaving Melissa Belshaw’s residence after stabbing her to death
The two men heard the victim’s 13-year-old daughter screaming that her mother had been killed and were rushing to her aid
Wadsworth, who has several convictions for vicious armed robbery and several lengthy spells in prison, admitted to killing his ex, but denies it was murder
He got emotional and ‘lost control’ after she admitted she had worked as an escort while he was incarcerated, he claimed
Wadsworth was convicted on Thursday of murdering Melissa Belshaw, 32, and the attempted murder of Gerard Bristow
He was ordered to serve a minimum of 32 years in jail
Wadsworth will be nearly 70 years old before he can be let out of jail
Ex-cage fighter Andrew Wadsworth chased Gerard Bristow with a 10in knife
A concerned neighbor who survived a slashing attack by a murderer who had just fatally stabbed his ex-girlfriend has recalled the terrifying confrontation which left him with one ear ‘hanging off’. Melissa Belshaw, 32, was stabbed to death by 37-year-old Andrew Wadsworth in her home on Upholland Road in Wigan, on May 20.Gerard Bristow, 46, said he was was about to take a wrongly delivered parcel to a nearby resident in the Billinge area of Liverpool, UK when he heard screaming coming from Melissa Belshaw’s home. Bristow and a passer-by, Kevin Moores, went to check on the terrified woman but were set upon by 37-year-old ex-cage fighter Andrew Wadsworth, who was trying to leave the residence after he had murdered the home owner. CCTV footage from that day shows Wadsworth chasing Bristow down the street before pinning him down and launching a savage knife attack, repeatedly stabbing him in the head and chest, but was prevented from inflicting further damage when Moores kicked him, allowing the bleeding victim to break free. Bristow told the Liverpool Echo he had heard Melissa’s teenage daughter screaming: ‘My mum’s been killed.’‘Me and this lad [ Moores] were stood there, wondering what do we do next.’ ‘It’s bizarre, I’d finished a conference call two minutes before so I wasn’t exactly prepared for anything, working from home, going down in my flip-flops and my shorts. It was very much a strange situation. The pair agreed to enter the house but soon after saw Wadsworth clambering out of the porch window, which had been smashed.
Bristow continued: ‘I was asking the questions, “is she okay in there?” several times, he said ‘yeah, she’s fine.. I’m just after the Scouser next door’. ‘And within seconds he made a beeline for me, and I actually think it was because I was the one asking all the questions. ‘He was suddenly on top of me, he pulled a knife out of his trousers, down to his left hand and side, and that’s when he started coming at me with the knife.‘I believe he got my ear, going for my head obviously, but he managed to take part of my ear off, it was hanging on.’ Bristow was taken to hospital where he was treated for serious stab wounds to the chest and collarbone along with a collapsed lung.Wadsworth faced multiple murder related charges.He admitted to killing Belshaw but denies it was murder, because he suffered a ‘loss of control’. He also denied threatening to kill Belshaw’s 13-year-old daughter.He also pled guilty to wounding with intent to cause serious injury to Gerard Bristow, the victim’s a neighbor outside the property, but denies it was attempted murder.
Melissa Belshaw was murdered while her daughter was locked in the house
After two weeks of evidence at the Manchester Crown Court, he was convicted on December 3 of murder in the death of Melissa Belshaw and the attempted murder of Gerard Bristow.The sentence which requires him to serve a minimum of 32 years in prison means that he will not be eligible for parole until he is 70.His defense had unsuccessfully tried to persuade a jury he should be convicted of manslaughter because of a ‘sudden loss of control’ due to shock revelations about her sex life.When Wadsworth killed his ex-girlfriend, he had been paroled from prison two months earlier and became consumed by suspicions that she had been unfaithful to him during their relationship.Days before her death she had admitted to earning $1,600 [£1,200], a week for spending two hours with a ‘sugar daddy’ but denied it was sex work, jurors heard.Wadsworth however, claimed she eventually she revealed she had been a sex worker ‘at some level’ throughout their relationship and slept with two of her relatives.
Former cage fighter Andrew Wadsworth [photo], was convicted by the Liverpool Crown Court in 2011 after he and an accomplice carried out a savage home invasion. Wadsworth was already serving 5 years for a previous armed robbery conviction. He received an additional 10-year term, for aggravated armed robbery
At sentencing, Justice Yip said: ‘At trial, you painted a very negative picture of Ms Belshaw as you set out to shift responsibility away from you and to blame her for what happened. Some of the things you claimed were demonstrably false. ‘Your character assassination undoubtedly went beyond anything that was justified. You had degraded her in her life and you continued to do so after her death. ‘She may have made some mistakes in her life but at the time of her death she was pursuing her dream of having her own beauty salon.‘She was still only young and was seeking to turn her life around. Sadly, she made a life around. Sadly, she made a fatal mistake in becoming involved with you and you took her future away.’Belshaw’s daughter claims she witnessed her mother’s murder, and that the killer then put a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her.Wadsworth denies the teenager was present, and he never threatened her.
32-year-old mother Melissa Belshaw at her home in Billinge, Liverpool in May. He ex-boyfriend Andrew Wadsworth has been sentenced to a minimum of 32 years for her murder
The current sentencing of 37-year-old Wadsworth comes after he was found guilty of murdering 32-year-old mother Melissa Belshaw at her home in Up Holland Road, Billinge, in May. The life term on December 3, was not the first time he will be handed a lengthy prison term. In 2011 he was jailed for 10 years for a savage home invasion, in which the victim was left with a brain hemorrhage after he was struck with a hammer.Wadsworth hit Craig Anderson in the head with a hammer leaving him seriously injured. His DNA found in a balaclava at the scene tied him to the robbery.Wadsworth who was already serving 5 years for a previous armed robbery conviction at the time, received an additional 10-year term for aggravated armed robbery.
