A family begged their son’s much older girlfriend to leave him alone – she would go on to stab him to death.
Kasey Anderson was 24. Natalie Bennett was 47. She attacked him on a neighbour’s driveway, stabbing him in the heart.
Although Kasey managed to dial for emergency help claiming he was “dying”, Bennett insisted that he arrived at her Croxteth, Liverpool home in his wounded state.
A history of domestic abuse was evident in the bruises and black eyes visible on Kasey. Graham Anderson and Jackie Morrey, his father and stepmother, tried to pull him from Bennett’s grip, even predicting that she would take his life.
However, when sentenced to life imprisonment last November, Bennett seemed unmoved, offering a thumbs up in court.
Graham remembers his son fondly, saying: “Kasey was a really lovely lad, happy and kind-hearted. He loved fishing and playing football and he was in Everton’s academy. But when he met Bennett, he completely changed. She took the light out of his eyes. He came home with black eyes and bruises but the more we begged him to leave her, the more she got her claws in.”
“If there is anyone out there, fighting a battle with domestic abuse, man or woman, speak out and get help. Don’t leave it too late. Speaking up is not a weakness, it is the biggest strength you can show. Please don’t let your families go through what we are going through.”
Kasey, the oldest of four children, Molly, Connor and James, was born in April 1998, raised by Graham and Jackie, along with assistance from his aunt Denise. He played football for Everton FC as a teenager, and his photo was on display at the club.
Graham spoke to the Liverpool Echo, he said: “He was a typical boy, he liked football and fishing, and he loved playing out. He had so many friends. As they got older, he’d drink lemonade on nights out, and his mates all teased him. That was just how he was, clean-living and full of fun. He brought us so much joy.”
When Kasey was 18, his two-year relationship with a childhood sweetheart ended.
His father said: “He was vulnerable, after the split, and it was then that Natalie Bennett saw her chance. She was well-known all over our estate. When we found out he was seeing her, we were mortified. She was streetwise and manipulative, and Kasey was really kind-hearted and trusting.
“We pleaded with him to finish it, but she’d tell him we didn’t love him, and we didn’t want him to be happy. We felt we were pushing him further towards her. We didn’t know what to do for the best. We tried tough love, telling him we wouldn’t support him if he kept seeing her. But she twisted that round to her advantage. I even went to see her and begged her to leave him alone and find someone her own age, but she wouldn’t listen.”
He added: “Kasey started coming home with black eyes, bruises and scratches. He told us he’d slipped or fallen off his bike. Once he said he’d walked into a door. We knew she was hurting him, but we couldn’t get him to admit it. He didn’t recognise at all that he was being domestically abused.
“His sister, Molly, pleaded with him to end it, she actually warned Kasey that Bennett would kill him. His friends said the same. But gradually, she alienated him from everyone who loved him.”
“He was unhappy, he didn’t want to play football or go fishing. He didn’t like seeing anyone. He was drinking and taking drugs with her, which was so unlike him. He couldn’t say no to her. She stole his soul.”
In March last year, Kasey started a new job at a delivery firm. He spent some time with his family and seemed to be doing well. But on the evening of March 11, Graham got a call from the police saying that Kasey had been stabbed in the heart at Bennett’s home.
The family rushed to the hospital where Kasey was put into an induced coma after surgery to fix his heart.
Graham said: “It looked hopeful at first. We spent two weeks by his bedside, all his friends came, his sister and brothers. He was close to my nephew, Paddy, also. So many people came to wish him well.”
But each time doctors tried to wake Kasey he suffered seizures. A brain scan showed there was no hope of recovery, and his life support was withdrawn.
Kasey’s dad said: “He was expected to pass soon after his life support was switched off, but he lasted 35 hours. The doctors said he was so young and healthy and was fighting to stay alive. We didn’t leave him for a moment. Our hearts were broken.”
Kasey died on March 31, aged 24. There were more than a thousand people at his funeral, with people lining the streets and local shops shut as a mark of respect.
Bennett stood trial in November 2023 at Liverpool Crown Court. She denied murdering Kasey and instead tried to pin the blame on him, claiming he had attacked her, he was a drug dealer and had arrived at her home already injured.
She even told 999 operators she had no idea how he had come by his injuries.
However, footage clearly showed Bennett failing to help as he lay dying on her path. She even aimed a further blow with the knife at his head.
Ring doorbell footage recovered from a neighbour’s house showed Bennett “holding a knife to the head of the distraught and injured Mr Anderson” with her right hand and “using it either to strike Kasey Anderson in the head or at the very least hold it close to his head”.
Bennett showed no reaction as she was handed a life imprisonment with a minimum term of 18 years behind bars, but put her thumb up to her dad in the public gallery as she was led down to the cells.
Judge Denis Watson KC said: “Your relationship with him began some five years ago, when he was about 19 or 20 and you were 42. It was a volatile relationship, and his family watched with increasing despair as he changed from happy go lucky to someone who drank, took drugs and whose mental health deteriorated.”
He added: “You picked up a screwdriver which you thrust at him, then a knife which you used to cause slash wounds to his ear, back and left arm and to stab him in the chest and lower left leg.
“You continued to be aggressive, making a sharp stabbing motion towards him close to his head – you called him a rat.
“Self-defence was completely rejected as entirely unconvincing. I’m sure that you attacked him, that he tried to defend himself. That made you so angry that you picked up the screwdriver, and then the knife. No sentence I can pass can restore Kasey’s life. His friends and family will always mourn his death – your actions have caused the waste of a human life.”
Graham said: “We were disappointed by the sentence. Whatever she serves, she’ll still have years left to rebuild her life.”
