University lecturer reported ex to police six times before he murdered her

A man who murdered his estranged wife after a six-month campaign of stalking and harassment when he refused to accept her decision to end their relationship has been jailed for life.

Paul Butler, 53, hid outside the home of university lecturer Claire Chick, 48, in Plymouth wearing a camouflaged hoodie and stabbed her more than 20 times as she left the building in January.

He also chased her new partner, Paul Maxwell, who witnessed Claire’s murder, shouting at him: ‘I’ll f***ing do you too.’

After fleeing the scene, Butler went to McDonald’s where he callously told a friend: ‘I am pretty certain I have ended her. I loved her so much. I meant to get him, but f*** him.

‘I killed her. I tried to get him, but he ran.’

Glaring at Butler in the dock as he read a victim impact statement, Mr Maxwell said: ‘I loved Claire. She was beautiful, funny and kind.

‘The emotional toll this crime has had upon me is immeasurable. No punishment can undo what has been done.

‘Nothing can bring back the life of Claire, but today there is some small amount of justice – that the person responsible will answer for their crime.

‘Today the voice of the victim, Claire Chick, will be heard.’

Alan Butler, Claire’s father, described her killer as a ‘nasty narcissist’.

‘You have brutally killed the most beautiful human being and robbed the world of a high achiever,’ he said.

‘You have murdered my daughter, taken her future, broken my heart and will go straight to hell.

‘I can never forgive you for what you have done. I rage with anger with what you have done.’

He added: ‘There are too many men who take the lives of women because they can’t have what they want. They are evil, he is evil.’

Devon and Cornwall’s Police and Crime Commissioner Alison Hernandez said more needed to be done to stop violence and women and girls.

But the court heard Claire made six statements to the police about Butler’s behaviour and he had been arrested three times for assault, harassment and stalking.

Despite being on bail and banned from going near her, Butler continued to stalk her and even put a tracking device on her car.

Jo Martin KC, prosecuting, said Claire and Butler became neighbours in 2021 after Ms Chick, a lecturer in nursing at the University of Plymouth, moved into the street following the end of her first marriage.

By the following summer they were a couple, and they married in June 2024.

‘Prior to the wedding she expressed some doubts, and the honeymoon was the end of the relationship,’ Ms Martin said.

‘They had a huge argument. She told friends she regretted getting married and everything was about him.

‘On August 23, she told him she wanted to live alone. He made it clear he would make her change her mind.

‘He would tell her he loved her, make threats of violence and threaten suicide. He also expressed feelings of jealously and thought she was seeing someone.

‘He told her he was seeing over people in order to provoke jealously.’

As Butler’s behaviour escalated, Claire contacted the police – telling officers in her final statement the day before she was killed: ‘I only feel that Butler will kill me if further action is not taken. I am in fear of leaving my house.’

Ms Martin said: ‘She felt that he had made her life hell. She did repeatedly tell him to leave her alone and she felt violated by him.

‘Then on the day of her murder going to her workplace to watch her.

‘She believed he would murder her.’

The day before the killing, Butler changed his Facebook profile to the ‘Stangray Strangler’.

When a friend of Claire’s told her, she replied: ‘I just wish he would get on with it and put me out of my misery.’

She contacted her solicitor that same day about Butler breaching his bail conditions and expressing concern this had not been acted on by the police.

An Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation is currently examining Claire’s previous contact with the Devon and Cornwall force.

Assistant Chief Constable Glen Mayhew added: ‘We are committed to fully co-operating with an ongoing independent investigation by the IOPC.

‘Having met some of Claire’s family following her tragic death, the force has conducted an urgent review of all our active stalking investigations.

‘This has resulted in immediate changes to our stalking and harassment procedures.

‘New policies have been implemented to ensure we provide greater focus on safeguarding victims, targeting perpetrators at the earliest opportunity and encouraging reporting.’

Jailing him for at least 27 years, Judge Robert Linford said Butler had carried out a ‘frenzied, brutal, murderous’ attack amidst a relationship of ‘obsession and control’.

‘The victim personal statements read to the court set out in graphic detail the effects of your savagery,’ he said.

‘You did not just hurt and kill Claire you have caused untold harm and misery to her family and friends.

‘The loss of Claire has left an irreplaceable void in the lives of so many people. ‘You are responsible for all this suffering by so many and you alone.’

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