Vile killer who battered his girlfriend to death ‘with a baseball bat’ leaving her with injuries as if she’d ‘fallen from a multi-storey building’ is jailed for life

• James Campbell, 33, tried to absolve himself from blame when police arrived
• But a court heard he unleashed significant injuries on his girlfriend with a bat 

A killer who battered his girlfriend with a bat that left her with injuries similar to those caused from a fall from a multi-storey building has been jailed for life.

James Campbell, 33, claimed he had woken up and discovered Colette Myers ‘stone cold’ but was unaware of what caused the 33-year-old’s sudden death.

But Newcastle Crown Court heard that a post-mortem revealed that the violent thug had unleashed ‘significant and catastrophic’ internal injuries on Ms Myers including a large bleed on the brain which had been caused by a tear to one of her arteries.

The court also heard Campbell, who has 40 convictions on his record, had a history of using violence towards his girlfriend and investigations revealed he probably used a baseball bat to kill her.

Campbell, 33, of Denwick Avenue, Newcastle, denied murder but was found guilty by a jury after a trial.

James Campbell, 33, (pictured) allegedly battered his girlfriend to death with a baseball bat

Colette Myers (pictured) had visited her baby’s grave earlier on the day that she was murdered

The murderer was even captured on police body-worn video footage brazenly trying to absolve himself from blame.

He told officers he had tried to talk to Colette in the morning, adding: ‘I

thought she was just like asleep. When I put my hand on her back I felt how cold she was.

‘I feel more sick than anything else.’

Prosecutor Sharon Beattie KC said a post-mortem carried out after Ms Myer’s sudden death showed the injuries were caused by ‘trauma’ and told the court: ‘The sort of trauma as if you fell from a multi-storey building, if you are a pedestrian and you are hit by a car or if someone has been assaulted, attacked.’

Miss Beattie said a baseball bat was found in the house, which Campbell

claimed Ms Myers had named ‘Benny the bat’ and that a weapon may have been used to inflict the ‘many injuries’ last April.

The prosecutor added: ‘The prosecution case is this defendant assaulted

Colette Myers, it was he who inflicted the injuries upon her and delivered the blows, one of which resulted in her death.

Campbell was caught on police body-cam trying to absolve himself from the blame, saying he tried to wake up his girlfriend but she was ‘cold’

‘This wasn’t a single blow, it was an attack upon her.’

Jurors have heard Campbell had gone to the home of a neighbour early in the morning and banged on the door.

Miss Beattie said: ‘She went and answered it and found James Campbell, his hands, she said, on his head, and he was shouting ‘Colette’s dead’.

‘She didn’t believe him so went to the house herself.

‘Campbell told her Colette was black and blue and she was in the bedroom.

‘He was saying ‘what am I going to do now’?

‘Before they went into the bedroom she asked him if he and Colette had been arguing and fighting and he said they had not.

‘She went into the bedroom and knew straight away Colette was dead due to discolouration of her body and the fact her lips were blue.’

Miss Beattie said Campbell had lifted Colette’s top-up and said to the

neighbour ‘she’s all black and blue’ and the woman noticed what looked like a rash on her skin.

The court heard changes can occur to the skin after death and the

pathologist concluded the marks could have indicated Ms Myers had been dead for some time.

Campbell told police he and Colette had been on separate nights out to see friends and when he woke up next to her the following morning she was ‘cold to the touch’.

He later said he had heard Colette ‘trip on a ladder’ as she was walking up the stairs when she got home after her night with friends.

Mrs Justice Foster jailed him today, October 20, for life and said he must serve a minimum of 18 years behind bars before he can apply for parole.

The judge said Ms Myers suffered ‘regular if not continuous violence and

other reprehensible behaviour’ by Campbell.

Speaking to the killer, the judge said: ‘On numerous occasions, she was harmed by you but she refused to complain, even when witnessed by others, more than one person gave evidence.

‘She would not do so because she loved you.’

The judge added that it is recognised that victims of domestic abuse will often decline support offered to them and told Campbell: ‘You were indifferent to the suffering caused to her by your violent and abusive behaviour.’

Justice Foster added that Campbell’s behaviour was ‘vicious’ and said: ‘Colette feared it would come to this.’

The court heard Ms Myer’s mum had passed away when she was just a toddler and she lost a baby to cot death at a young age but she was capable of bringing ‘great joy’ and offering support to those who knew her.

She had visited her baby’s grave earlier on the day that she was murdered.

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