Overview
- Stafford Crown Court accepted Kai Sainz-Stafford’s guilty plea to manslaughter on November 10, ending the murder trial, and sentenced him the next day.
- He received five years and two months for manslaughter plus a consecutive 12-month term for a 2024 unlawful wounding, taking the total custodial time to more than six years.
- Prosecutors detailed that Sam Siviter, 35, was stabbed three times—once in the leg, once in the knee, and once through the heart—after arriving at Hannah Cottrell’s Lambourn Drive address late on May 1; he died shortly after midnight.
- Police released interview footage in which Sainz-Stafford said he felt “set up” and frightened; the court heard he had hidden a knife under a sofa, and he handed himself in the following day.
- Judge Sylvia de Bertodano highlighted the profound impact on Siviter’s family, as relatives paid tribute and West Mercia Police warned about the deadly consequences of carrying knives.