#(from blaming himself to his parents murders and jason's future death to something as simple as this and how he'll beat himself up

[martyrbat]

detective comics #509

[ID: Bruce Wayne sleeping in his penthouse, his eyes squeezed shut as the narration reads, ‘Gordon's strained laugh sounds hollow, but it echos in the Batman's mind... and haunts his dreams...” Bruce awakens to a hand on his shoulder and before he can think, he's twisting it and holding it down. The panel expands, revealing the hand belongs to Alfred as he's almost toppling over! He cries out, “M-master Bruce—my arm!” as Bruce groggily realizes who it is. He lets go at once as Alfred moves to the end of the bed and holds his arm while stammering an apology, “S-sorry, s-sir... Sorry if I startled you.” Bruce looks at him with aghast as he cries out, “My god, Alfred—I almost broke your arm!” Alfred reasons, “You must have been having a nightmare, sir.” as Bruce sits up and puts his face in his hands. He weepily dismisses, “A nightmare—what kind of an excuse is that? Old friend... forgive me...” Alfred reassures, “Nothing to forgive, sir. Just bad nerves, sir.” END ID]

[gyrlversion]

Maths graduate who stabbed ex-girlfriend to death is jailed for life

Joe Atkinson (left) was handed a minimum sentence of 15 years today after pleading guilty to the murder of his ex-girlfriend Poppy Devey Waterhouse (right)

The grief-stricken mother of a ‘prodigiously-gifted’ maths graduate has spoken of her agony after visiting the flat where he daughter was stabbed to death by her jealous ex – as he was jailed for life today.

Joe Atkinson, 25, was handed a minimum sentence of 15 years after pleading guilty to the murder of Poppy Devey Waterhouse.

Leeds Crown Court heard how Atkinson was ‘fuelled by jealousy’ when he burst into their shared flat in Leeds and repeatedly stabbed Poppy, 24, on December 14, inflicting more than 100 injuries on her body.

In an emotional impact statement, Poppy’s mother Julie Devey revealed how she ‘kept scraping my hands across the floorboards where she had been left screaming’ after visiting the blood-soaked flat where she died.

‘I just wanted to scoop her up and save her,’ she added. ‘I now live my life with a split screen, on one half I can see the now, and on the other half that horrific scene.’

In a similarly-tearful statement to the court, Poppy’s father Rupert Waterhouse spoke of the ‘great pain’ of not being ‘there for my daughter when she needed me most’.

‘I could only kiss her cold forehead when it was too late and tell her I love her,’ he said, adding how Poppy was murdered ‘by the man that she loved and trusted’.

Prosecutors explained how the pair had been together for three years by late 2018, but had broken up at the request of Miss Devey Waterhouse, an analyst for William Hill, in October.

The attack took place after Atkinson arrived back from his work Christmas party, with the victim suffering more than 100 separate injuries, including 49 knife injuries and 23 stab wounds all over her body. 

 The attack took place after Atkinson (left)arrived back from his work Christmas party, with the victim (right) suffering more than 100 separate injuries

Leeds Crown Court heard how Atkinson was ‘fuelled by jealousy’ when he burst into their shared flat in Leeds and repeatedly stabbed Poppy (pictured together) on December 14

Poppy’s brother Zeb (left), her father Rupert Waterhouse (second from left) and her mother Julie Devey (right photograph, left) arrive at Leeds Crown Court today

Miss Devey Waterhouse also suffered bruising and injuries consistent with trying to prevent restraint, the court heard.

Following the attack, Atkinson then drove to  Leeds, West Yorkshire, to dispose of his clothes and the murder weapon, which has not been recovered by police.

Atkinson did not call 999 for three hours as he was ‘scared’ and when ambulance staff arrived, they found the victim in a pool of blood near the flat entrance.

After being arrested by officers, Atkinson initially blamed the attack on Miss Devey Waterhouse.

The couple were keen travellers who shared photos from their trips abroad to countries such as Morocco, Lithuania and Greece.

The court heard that Miss Devey Waterhouse scored 100 per cent in her William Hill job application, one of only two people to do so.

She was the only applicant to rank in the top 10 for each of the four areas scored and was graded by her bosses as ‘remarkable’, a rank reserved for the top five per cent of employees – she was the first ever employee to get such a grade in their first year.

Her mother Julie said ‘half’ of her had died on the day of her daughter’s murder and she had been living in a ‘dense, grey fog’ since the day.

Poppy Devey Waterhouse is pictured with her younger brother Zeb, who gave an emotional impact statement to the court today

Joe and Poppy had shared a flat together in Leed (police pictured outside the building)

The couple were keen travellers who shared photos from their trips abroad to countries such as Morocco, Lithuania and Greece

Miss Devey-Waterhouse and Atkinson are pictured together during a trip to San Fransisco

She said: ‘Half of me died on Friday, December 14. My baby, my daughter, my life as I know it has ended, has died suddenly, violently and cruelly.

‘As a parent, my basic duty is to keep my daughter safe. I failed and I have kept that failure with me wherever I go.

‘The future does not exist to me. All I see is a dense grey fog.’

‘I could only kiss her cold forehead when it was too late’: Father’s heartbreak at ‘not being there for his daughter on day she needed him most’

Rupert Waterhouse, Miss Devey Waterhouse’s father, said: ‘People who know me know I don’t talk very much.

‘I miss her so terribly and I miss her so very much. 

‘What matters is the simple fact that she is my daughter. There is nothing that can compare with the joy of feeling your newborn baby. Unconditional love.

‘She excelled not just I her academic life. She loved what she did. And she did it with an enthusiasm and a smile on her face.

‘December 14. Day zero. The day my life changed forever. I thought I’d been through the greatest pain I’d ever been through inside. I was so wrong.

‘That was the day I was not there for my daughter. On the day she needed me the most in my life I wasn’t there.

‘I could only kiss her cold forehead when it was too late and tell her I love her. I cannot speak to her or see her again. How can a photo of poppy hurt me so deeply and cause me so much pain?

‘This is my life sentence. Every Christmas will mark her death. A family of four, minus one. Is Poppy coming home for Christmas? No, she’s lying in a freezer in Bradford.’

Describes the hours and days following his daughter’s death, Mr Waterhouse said: ‘This can’t be real.

‘I carry a Detective Constable’s card in my back pocket. How can he be telling me all these terrible things? Warning me her face might be too disfigured to identify her.’

Mr Waterhouse said he stills wears a jumper that Poppy gave him for his birthday ‘every day’.

Mr Waterhouse said: ‘I talk to her all the time. Every day. Every Liverpool game will be one she’s not watching. I’ll never have her children wrap their tiny arms around my neck. Call me Grandad.’

Revealing that the family were unable to get into her flat until February this year, Mr Waterhouse said: ‘I collapsed sobbing on the floor where they say she was lying.

‘I saw the wall stubbed back to the plasterboard. The clean patches and the blue forensic paint on the floor gave me a picture so clearly.

‘The man that she loved. Hacking at her neck. Her blood spraying the walls. Her shoes were too drenched in blood to clean. They had to be thrown away.

‘I had two shining stars. But one died. One was killed actually. One was murdered actually. When she was only 24.

‘By the man that she loved and trusted – until her last moments. The man who was Joe, her boyfriend, is now Atkinson, her murderer. Two, minus one.

‘One day I might laugh again. Poppy might not be here, but she’s always with us. They’ll have to invent new maths. Four minus one will make four. Two minus one will make two.

‘That was my beautiful, brilliant daughter. Her life was cut so cruelly and senselessly short. Bye lovely. Bye darling. I love you.’

She described the moment she was taken from her office at work to be told of her daughter’s death and how she clawed at the carpet screaming ‘no, no no’.

She concluded her impact statement in tears, stating: ‘Today we are all here to witness the sentencing of Joe Atkinson, but my life sentence has already begun.’

Mr Waterhouse, the victim’s father, described her as ‘beautiful and brilliant’.

The court heard how she was the only person in William Hill’s history to be given a verdict of ‘remarkable’ at a job appraisal during her first year.

Mr Waterhouse said: ‘She was killed by the man she shared her life with, who she trusted and felt safe with. The man who destroyed all our lives that morning.’

Describing the day he heard his sister was murdered, Miss Devey Waterhouse’s brother Zeb said: ‘The rest of the evening was a blur.

‘I do have one recollection of lying on the leaves in the park opposite screaming at the sky: “Why?” It’s a question I’ve not stopped asking

‘The smell of the mortuary. Seeing her body in the crack in the door. I froze, seeing how still she was.

‘The anger that I felt then and I felt now I’ll never be able to put into words. Never before have I felt hate like this and never before have I felt love like his.

‘But also never before have I felt guilt like this. Guilt for not appreciating the incredible sister I had or telling her how much I loved her.

‘I thought I had more time. Turns out I had my heart set on being a fun uncle. 

‘I’ve lost the role model that I’ve looked up to since the day I was born. Every time I achieve something will I be reminded of what Pop could’ve achieved? 

‘I’ll never stop telling Pop how much I love her. I hope she knew. I love you Pop and I can’t wait to tell the world about you for the rest of my life.’

Jason Pitter, prosecuting, said: ‘Poppy was a prodigiously talented mathematician, who was described as brilliant and beautiful who, at the age of 24, had her whole life ahead of her.

‘It was a life cruelly taken away from her just before Christmas last year, because this defendant realised he was not going to be a part of this future.’

The prosecutor said, to tears from the victim’s family: ‘He had armed himself with a kitchen knife and murdered Poppy in an unprovoked attack fuelled by jealousy.’  

Sentencing Atkinson to life in jail with a minimum term of 16 years, Mr Justice Lavender said: ‘Joe Atkinson, you have pleaded guilty to the murder of Poppy Devey Waterhouse.

‘You stabbed her to death. You had been in a relationship for three years and that had ended.

‘You went back to the flat after a night out drinking and got into an argument with her. You went into the kitchen and stabbed her in the bedroom.

‘In your own words: ‘I don’t know how many times I stabbed her. I only stopped when it all went calm and she stopped moving.

‘This was clearly a frenzied and savage attack. Her’s was a violent and terrible death. Poppy was a young woman with so much going for her.

‘She would have gone on bringing joy to others. But you brought an end to that. Why did you do this appalling thing? You are yourself an intelligent young man.

‘The realisation of the ending of the relationship precipitated your prolonged violence. I impose on you a sentence of life.’

An inquest into Miss Devey Waterhouse’s death has been opened and adjourned pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings.

Miss Devey-Waterhouse achieved 9 A*s and 3 As in her GCSEs, as well as 2 As and 1 A at A-level

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