Shaine March who had murdered a man in McDonald’s had assaulted another partner after being released on licence previously
A convicted murderer has admitted killing his pregnant girlfriend by stabbing her 19 times after being released from prison on licence. Alana Odysseos, 32, was in the early stages of pregnancy with her third child when she was attacked by “lifer” Shaine March at her home in Walthamstow, east London, early last July 22.
March, 47, of Surrey Quays, south-east London, had admitted manslaughter by diminished responsibility but denied murder. On Friday, he dramatically changed his plea and admitted the murder of Ms Odysseos.
It came after it emerged in legal argument on Thursday that a defence expert due to give evidence in his trial no longer supported his diminished responsibility claim.
In light of the guilty plea, Mr Justice Murray discharged the jury and lifted reporting restrictions relating to March’s previous conviction for murder.
It can now be reported that March was aged 21 when he fatally stabbed a man in the neck at a McDonald’s restaurant in January 2000.
He was convicted of Andre Dummond’s murder at the Old Bailey on July 17 2000 and jailed for life. Following his release on licence in early 2013, he was recalled to jail later that year after an assault on another partner in July and released again in February 2018.
He had been seeing Ms Odysseos for around four months before the killing. Hours before, the couple had argued with about whether to abort their unborn child, with the victim heard to say: “I don’t want to kill my baby.”
Members of the public in Lynmouth Road rang 999 after finding Ms Odysseos outside her home wearing a nightie and dressing gown and clutching her right side.
Bleeding from multiple stab wounds to her body, she pointed at the defendant standing nearby and shouted: “Shaine stabbed me, he stabbed me. Help, help.”
March walked away and Ms Odysseos died on the ground outside her address despite the efforts of police and paramedics, jurors heard. Before throwing his mobile phone in a drain, March recorded a voice note saying: “Mum, I just killed a woman, and I’m going back to jail.”
Mr Justic Murray remanded March into custody to be sentenced on October 31.
