THE distraught girlfriend of murder victim Thomas Hunter has revealed how she left another man to begin a new life with him the day before he was stabbed to death.

Agnes Thompson spoke as a police chief warned people not to take the law into their own hands following the life sentence handed down to Margaret Copeland, 28, of Ivinson Road, Darwen, at Preston Crown Court.

Copeland pleaded guilty to murdering Mr Hunter after claiming he had abused her as a child.

Agnes, 43, said she had been living with another man and seeing Thomas in secret for about a year.

She had told the man about the affair on Christmas Eve. Thomas moved from Old Hall Farm, Stoneyholme, Burnley, into a maisonette in Vernon Street with Agnes but was murdered the following day.

Copeland stabbed him through the heart on Christmas Day, as he watched television at Agnes' home in Vernon Street, Darwen.

Agnes described the moment she realised her lover had died. "I just flipped. I started to squeal. I couldn't believe it. It all happened so quickly," she said.

Agnes is still coming to terms with what happened. She moved out of the flat immediately after the killing and has never returned. The flat is now boarded up. She said: "I couldn't stay there. I moved out that day to stay with my mate and then I got another house."

She said she still had nightmares about the murder.

"I can't accept it. It's like it's not real. I can't sleep and sometimes I think that he is still living in Burnley, and I'll see him again. But I know I won't," she said.

A police investigation after the murder failed to prove whether Copeland's claims that Thomas Hunter had abused her were true.

Agnes said she had been aware of the allegations and had questioned Thomas many times about them.

She said he had admitted making a pass at Copeland when she was 15 or 16, what he considered "old enough", but Copeland had pushed him away.

"Before that he hadn't touched her and after that he had left her alone," said Agnes.

She added that Thomas had looked after her friend's children and there had been no complaints about his behaviour.

Agnes was not in court for Copeland's sentencing, but said she was glad she had been sentenced to life.

She said: "I feel she deserves it. She took away my man. I feel sorry for her daughters, though, having to grow up without their mum."

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