Killer 'sacrificed' her boyfriend by delaying medical help

Watch ITV Central reporter Chris Halpin's full report below

A murderer has been told she will serve at least 17 years in prison afterstabbing her boyfriend in the heart and "sacrificing" him by delaying medical help.

Emma-Jayne Magson, described in court as "cold, brutal and manipulative",plunged the blade 4.5in (11.5cm) into 26-year-old James Knight before placing the weapon in a bin belonging to the victim's brother.

The 23-year-old he attacked the father-of-two in the early hours of March 27this year following a drunken row near her property in Sylvan Street,Leicester.

After striking the fatal blow, Magson changed her clothes, cleaned herself up and waited around 30 minutes before calling emergency services to come to Mr Knight's aid.

Her trial at Leicester Crown Court was played the 999 call in which she said MrKnight had collapsed and failed to mention he had been stabbed.

(Warning, some may find the audio on the video below distressing)

When told an ambulance might be delayed, Magson calmly replied:"No, that's fine, don't worry about it."

Magson, who claimed she had acted in self-defence when she stabbed Mr Knight, was convicted on Friday after just over seven hours of jury deliberations.

Sentencing her to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 17 years on Monday, Judge Nicholas Dean QC said: "You have demonstrated no real remorse for what you did - on the contrary, you have effectively blamed James Knight for what you did.

"It seems to me that the only reasons there could have been for you disposing of the knife were that you knew you had stabbed James, you knew that that was not done in self-defence and you were beginning to realise that James was badly hurt.

"Your behaviour after you stabbed James Knight is an aggravating feature. Your wish was to conceal from others what you had done.

"If you had any wish to help James, then it was very much secondary to your intention to buy time to work out what to do to escape the consequences of what you had done to James Knight."

Mr Knight was found lying injured after the attack in the early hours of Easter Sunday, with two nearby residents and the victim's brother coming to his aid.

The court heard that Magson then said Mr Knight was drunk and had been beaten up by bouncers while out drinking in the city centre.

Kevin Knight, who lived a few doors away from Magson, helped his brother's killer carry the body back into her front room - without realising the fatal stab injury Mr Knight had suffered.

Kevin Knight was later woken by Magson banging frantically on the doorscreaming"It's James, it's James, he's dead, he's dead", the jury heard.

During his closing speech, prosecutor Michael Evans QC said: "(On that night)

she was in drink, she was cold, she was brutal, she was manipulative, she was calculating, she was volatile, she was determined and she was vicious.

"She was thinking about how she could escape the consequences of what she had done."

Referring to the fact that the victim is unable to give his account of events,Mr Evans said: "She was determined that he would not have a voice."