Gavin Shaw pleads guilty to murdering estranged wife

Gavin Shaw, a 62-year-old tradesman from Warrington, stabbed his estranged wife Michele Kennedy to death in their former marital home on October 13, 2025, in an attack prosecutors described as deliberate and unprovoked. The incident occurred around 3:55 p.m. on Manchester Road in Woolston, where Shaw entered the property uninvited and inflicted two fatal wounds to Kennedy's chest with a kitchen knife before she collapsed outside.

Kennedy, 55, a grandmother who had separated from Shaw three months earlier after a 12-year marriage marked by volatility, died on October 18, 2025, following multiple surgeries for injuries to her stomach, liver, and other organs. The couple's relationship had been strained by Shaw's alcohol issues, financial disputes, and occasional police interventions, according to family testimony presented at Liverpool Crown Court on April 2. Shaw had moved in with their son, Adam, two doors away after the split, which followed troubled holidays to the Canary Islands.

Prosecutor Andrew Ford KC told the court that Kennedy had embraced a fresh start post-separation, improving her relationships with family and embarking on a trip to Turkey with her mother, Patricia...