Obsessed Ex-Boyfriend Gets Life for Mûrdering UK Student

A Nigerian man has been sentenced to life imprisonment, with a minimum term of 25 years, for murdering his former girlfriend in the UK after she ended their relationship.

Adedapo Adegbola, 40, was sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court for the murder of 23-year-old student Stephanie Irons. The court heard that Adegbola became fixated and controlling after the breakup and meticulously planned the attack.

Prosecutors stated he purchased two knives days before going to Miss Irons’ flat in Mapperley, Nottingham, on October 21. He fatally stabbed her in the neck, severing her jugular vein. Police were alerted by her concerned colleagues, who had received disturbing messages and could not contact her.

Following the killing, Adegbola fled, discarding the murder weapon, his blood-stained clothes, and the victim’s phone. CCTV footage captured him trying to wipe blood from the knife. He travelled to several cities before returning to Nottingham and surrendering to police the next day.

Sentencing him, Judge Nirmal Shant KC said Miss Irons was attacked in her own home, a place where she should have felt safe. The judge stated that Adegbola killed her because she tried to leave him, describing the crime’s impact on her family as devastating.

Adegbola had pleaded guilty to murder in January.