A woman who stabbed her ex brother-in-law to death in an "irrational but intentional" attack outside his pub has today been convicted of murder.
Stephanie Langley confronted Matthew Bryant, landlord of the Hare and Hounds in Maidstone town centre, as he was phoning police to report her for threatening to kill him.
Jurors heard his last words to the 999 operator were "I've just been stabbed" after the 55-year-old mum of two plunged a large kitchen knife twice into his back and then fatally into his chest and through his heart.
Mr Bryant, 52, collapsed in the street and despite the heroic efforts of pub customers, passers-by and medical professionals, he died at the scene.
But while life-saving attempts were being made, and even once under arrest, an unrepentant and "vengeful" Langley ranted repeatedly that she was glad she had stabbed him, he deserved to die, and she was happy to go to jail.
It was said she held a "burning belief" that he was abusive, violent, had once committed rape, and she "hated" him.
She was even caught on camera raising her fists in a "celebratory" gesture the moment her victim's body appeared limp and lifeless.
Langley, of Wilsons Lane, East Farleigh, denied murder but was found guilty by the jury after deliberations lasted just over three hours.
Although she admitted an offence of possessing a knife and accepted causing the injuries, she had also denied manslaughter, saying she had acted in self-defence after Mr Bryant threatened to "find her daughter".
This however was refuted by the prosecution who said he had been nothing but "calm, courteous and polite" in their meeting that fateful day, only for her to react violently.
Although once related by marriage, she and Mr Bryant had not had any contact for more than 20 years until May last year.
Having been invited to the Lower Boxley Road pub by her son, Langley became "verbally obnoxious and almost uncontrollable" when she saw her ex-brother-in-law.
The landlord himself described how she had been "gunning" for him.
But jurors heard his death four months later was not the result of a similar "random, chance encounter" but rather a "deliberate and intentional" decision by Langley to return to the pub armed with the largest knife taken from a block in her kitchen.
Her clothing - a thick, padded gilet worn over a knee-length dress - was also said by the prosecution to be "an odd choice", given the late summer heat that day, but a conscious one as it had deep pockets in which to hide her weapon.
Described as an "aspirational" woman, Langley had held a number of jobs, including cleaning, gardening and dog walking, following her release from prison in 2002 from an 11-year sentence for drug smuggling.
But in the weeks leading up to the murder, her life was unravelling as she dealt with a family dispute, her mother's poor health, her son's involvement in a fatal road accident and financial struggles, as well as seeking help for her daily drinking habit.
It was said she was also known to resort to violent outbursts when upset, and had once assaulted her partner and her sister.
But prosecutor Nina Ellin KC told the court that by the day of the fatal stabbing Mr Bryant had become "the focal point for Langley's rage".
She first arrived at the pub at 5.53pm to be served a whiskey by her former brother-in-law, who then sat with her at a table.
CCTV captured images - but not sound - of their conversation, and then showed Langley repeatedly smashing his phone on a table corner as he tended to a customer who she had told to order a drink "while he is still alive".
Having then made further threats, she was ordered to leave by Mr Bryant's wife Caroline while he dialled 999.
With a departing remark of "You're dead tonight", Langley then returned to her Volvo car parked a little up the road, drove it around the corner to Maidstone East train station, and then headed back to the pub on foot.
By the time she arrived for a second time at around 6.05pm, Mr Bryant was mid-call to police.
But when he offered his phone to Langley, she swiped it from his hand and then, as he bent down to retrieve it from the road, promptly began to stab him.
The attack itself was not captured on CCTV but was witnessed by horrified onlookers.
One later told police she had held the blade in "a dagger motion" above her head and yelled "I told you I would stab you." Langley also shouted: "I hope he is f***ing dead."
Another eye-witness described Langley as being in an "alcohol-driven rage" and seeing her victim "die on his feet".
The court heard that the time gap between the phone being knocked from his grasp and the knife landing on the ground was just 24 seconds.
Giving evidence to the jury, she claimed she had simply decided to go to the Hare and Hounds to tell her son - who played for its pool team - she "could not deal" with him mixing with Mr Bryant - who she referred to in texts as "the w*****".
She said she also planned to tell the landlord that she believed he was still abusing women.
But jurors were told she then stabbed him three times "to protect" her teenage daughter from his supposed threat.
With the blade penetrating 20cm deep into his torso, the court heard Langley ignored desperate pleas from a pub customer not to pull it out.
Mr Bryant then fell face down on the road with a chest wound said by a pathologist to be unsurvivable without immediate surgery.
Having been restrained and then sat at a nearby table, a ranting Langley continued to accuse the dying Mr Bryant of being a rapist - something she had been told just once and many years earlier.
She was also recorded at the scene by police body-worn video footage. Played in court, it showed her in a distressed state, shouting "Get away from me, I want to stab him. I killed him. I don't care. I want him dead...I'm just so happy. I hate him so much....I hope he dies."
At the start of the murder trial, Ms Ellin said Langley had directed her unhappiness and anger at her former brother-in-law.
"On September 11 she was down, fed up with various members of her family, she had issues with her car and financial problems. She had also been drinking," the prosecutor told the jury of six men and six women.
"She was annoyed that her son wanted to play pool at Mr Bryant's pub and, in her mind, it was Mr Bryant who was at fault - he was the focus of her rage.
"So she took the largest kitchen knife from her home and she went to him and killed him.
"It was impulsive, it was irrational, but it was also deliberate and intentional."
