Drug addict jailed after admitting killing girlfriend in her Hartlepool home

A drug addict who killed his girlfriend by injecting her with heroin has been jailed for 40 months.
Andrew Dean Williams, 48, was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court on Friday, June 7,after he earlier pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Samatha Archer.Andrew Dean Williams, 48, was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court on Friday, June 7,after he earlier pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Samatha Archer.
Andrew Dean Williams, 48, was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court on Friday, June 7,after he earlier pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Samatha Archer.

Andrew Dean Williams, 48, was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court on Friday, June 7, after he earlier pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Samantha Archer.

The judge, the the Recorder of Middlesbrough Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, described bed it as a tragic case and told Williams: “You caused the death of somebody you were fond of by your actions."

Brafferton street, Hartlepool.Brafferton street, Hartlepool.
Brafferton street, Hartlepool.
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Miss Archer, 43, was found dead at her home in Brafferton Street, off Duke Street, Hartlepool, on February 10 of last  year.

Williams, formerly of Hartlepool, who had been in a 'volatile' relationship with Miss Archer, admitted recklessly endangering her life by injecting her with the drug while she was already drunk.

The court heard the couple argued when Williams turned up at her house on February 9. He was living nearby at the time.

Neighbours said it went quiet when they went inside. 

The case was heard at Teesside Crown Court.The case was heard at Teesside Crown Court.
The case was heard at Teesside Crown Court.

Williams admitted injecting Miss Archer with more heroin than usual after she had not taken the drug for around a month.

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Nick Dry, prosecuting, said she was also found to be three times the legal alcohol driving limit and taken a potentially fatal amount of painkillers which a pathologist said contributed to her death when combined with the heroin.

Williams called an ambulance at around 3.15am the following morning when he went downstairs and found her unresponsive.

Paramedics arrived shortly after but she was pronounced dead.

Mr Dry said: “When police officers arrived he told them he had injected them both with heroin that he had acquired the previous night.

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“He used the same needle for both and gave her a little more than usual.

“Death is likely to have occurred shortly after the heroin was injected.

“He would have known at the very least she was drunk at the time.” 

As well as manslaughter, he also pleaded guilty to unlawfully administering poison.

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It was said in mitigation that Williams, now of Benson Street, Middlesbrough, did not intend to harm her, had tried to help by calling the ambulance and admitted to police what he had done.

John Elvidge QC said: “This desperately tragic caseproves a salutory lesson. Mr Williams accepts that his actions, unlawful action, to administer heroin, a controlled drug, caused the death of Samantha Archer with who he was in a relationship with at the time.” 

He added: “It goes without saying he would do anything to bring Samantha back to life and he acknowledges the pain that her loss will cause her mother as it causes him pain.”

The judge said both Miss Archer and Williams had led sad lives blighted by drug and alcohol misuse.

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Sentencing Williams, the Recorder of Middlesbrough Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, said: "You caused her death.

"She was 43 when she died. Now her mother will no longer have a daughter who she loved and you brought about that misery to her.

"This is undoubtedly a tragic case. You caused the death of somebody you were fond of by your actions and you will live with that  for the rest of your life."