Ian Paton
| AKA | |
| DOB | 1983 |
| Occupation | |
| Kill Total | 1 |
| Kill Place | Bexhill-on-Sea |
| Kill Date | 20 July 2019 |
| M.O. | Strangulation |
| Victim | Kayleigh hanks - 29 |
| Court | Hove Crown Court |
| Judge | Jeremy Gold |
| Prosceution | Alexandra Healy QC |
| Defence | Tom Nicholson-Pratt QC |
| Case No: |
Ms. Michelle Thomas, a previous girlfriend of Paton, would later state,"We were in a toxic relationship. It was emotionally brutal, he would be violent to me and I would fight back."
Ian Paton had been in a relationship with Kayleigh Hands for about two years, they had a baby together. Friends and family would later report that it was a toxic and violent relationship, and that he once grabbed Miss Hanks's head and slammed it against a car dashboard, and on another occasion he had dragged her out of a car by her hair.
20th July 2019, On this particular day the arguing had escalated, with their toddler daughter, seven month old Ava, asleep in the same room, Paton strangled Kayleigh to death. While she lay on the bedroom floor, he cut himself and started to arrange the scene to make it look like she had attacked him with a knife. He later claimed he did not call 999 straight away as he had to settle the baby who was crying.
21st July 2019, 12.33am, Paton called 999 and asked to speak to police, He told the call handler: “She went for me, she had a knife. I restrained her and she is on the floor now.
I think I restrained her too hard and she’d stopped breathing.
7th February 2020, Paton appeared at Hove Crown Court, he denied murder, instead claiming he was acting in self defense. He said "I just felt that she was going to kill me and stab me,"
Judge Jeremy Gold sentenced Paton to life for the murder of Kayleigh Hanks.