A man who stabbed his girlfriend to death was caught on CCTV chatting up a barmaid on a two-day bender while on the run from police. 

Adam Brettle, 24, murdered mum Samantha Gosney on November 24 last year in an attack that a paramedic described as "pure butchery".

Brettle stabbed the 29-year-old 19 times before abandoning her in a massive pool of her own blood on the floor of her St Helens flat in Merseyside, reports the Liverpool Echo .

He then text his mum saying: "Mum you need to ring me now. I'm going to jail."

Brettle stole a bottle of water from a teenager after fleeing the murder scene on Swan Avenue, using it to swill blood off his hands.

He then began calling and texting his family telling them he had "done something" and needed money – refusing to say exactly what had happened.

Brettle, who was jailed for life at Liverpool Crown Court, met his grandmother in the car park of the St Helens Premier Inn on Carr Mill Road where she handed him £150.

She said it was nothing unusual because he was always asking for cash and his family routinely needed to pay off drug debts caused by his cocaine and cannabis use.

After meeting with his grandmother, Brettle went into Wigan town centre, on the run from police after knowing Samantha had called 999 during his frenzied attack.

At some point during that afternoon, Brettle spoke to his dad on the phone and told him he had killed Samantha – prompting his family to call police.

Just a few hours after butchering his girlfriend of 18 months, Brettle ran into a witness called Liam Hart at 2pm in Wigan.

Mr Hart was in the town with a friend and Brettle approached them asking if they could get him some cocaine.

They said no and thought nothing more of it until later that night, when they encountered him outside a bar on King Street, where Brettle was running about waving his arms and saying "I'm off my head boys".

He appeared to be "under the influence of something" on the first night of a two-day bender spent evading police.

The next day, Brettle was captured on CCTV at Harry's Bar in Wigan, where he could be seeing chatting up a barmaid at 9.40am.

A barmaid who spoke to police said he was "friendly and cheeky" and that he was "laughing and joking with her and flirting with her", while looking unkempt.

Brettle told the barmaid about himself and at one point said "I wish my girlfriend had a body like you", less than 24 hours after driving a knife into her neck, back and chest.

The barmaid said Brettle continued to compliment her and be "suggestive", as well as asking for baby wipes to clean himself up saying he was now homeless.

He stayed at the bar until her shift finished at 3pm and the prosecution said after this encounter, he travelled to North Wales by means unknown.

He was finally captured on November 26, when police were called to an incident at the Wetherspoons in Rhyl, where locals apprehended a man who snatched a mobile phone from someone's hand and ran off.

Brettle told the officer his name was Christopher James and that he was born on December 19, 1995 – but when he was arrested and taken to St Asaph police station, officers could find no record of him.

An appeal had been circulated by Merseyside Police, and officers quickly realised the man they had in custody was Brettle – who was wanted over Samantha's murder.

Brettle appeared emotionless in the dock while Judge Neil Flewitt QC sentenced him to life in prison at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday.

He was handed a minimum sentence of 18 years and 191 days, after which he will be eligible for parole.

Samantha was in a relationship with Brettle for 18 months, having previously been in another abusive relationship with a man who attacked her with a bottle.

Samantha's two young sons, who are just seven and nine years old, will now grow up without their mother – being raised by their grandmother Joan.

In a harrowing statement after the trial, which was read out by a representative on her behalf, Joan described the devastating impact Samantha's death had on her entire family.

Joan said: "The afternoon of Saturday, November 24 will be forever fixed in my mind. When the poor policewoman had to stand in my lounge at home and tell me that my gorgeous Samantha was dead. The look on her face is something that I will never forget.

"My world fell apart there and then.

“Samantha was a gorgeous, bubbly girl – always full of beans and so loveable. To think that I will never see her again is so very hard indeed."

Joan said: “I have become a different person since she has gone. I walk around talking to people, taking Samantha’s children to school, people asking if I am okay, offering their condolences for my loss and I nod and say thank you.

“As a family we are okay and coping best we can, but inside I’m walking around in a daze, my head cannot function, I forget what I was saying and my heart feels that someone is ripping it out of my chest.

“I cannot describe the hurt I feel as a mother who has lost their most precious baby. I don’t sleep at night, thinking what I could have done different. I cannot listen to my favourite music because it makes me cry all of the time.

“Samantha’s poor little boys have lost their beautiful mother whom they adored. [Her seven-year-old son] wakes up in the night asking why his mummy has been taken away. He asks why his mummy cannot be fixed so she can come back alive.

“My poor husband cannot even look at the pictures as it hurts so much and seeing him cry breaks my heart.

“We are a very close family who are devastated and hurt by the loss of Samantha, as she was loved so much.

“Samantha has been a big loss to so many people, the friends she had was so vast and they message me daily to express how sad they all are as they loved and miss her so much.

“I will hurt everyday forever. Our lives have been truly ripped apart and if I could swap places with her I would do it in a flash.”

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