Woman walks in to police station and admits to 2004 murder of teenage boy

Karen Tunmore jailed for life after confessing to unsolved killing of 19-year-old Scott Pritchard, almost 15 years on from his death

A woman has been jailed for life after walking into a police station and confessing to the unsolved murder of a Sunderland teenager in 2004.

Karen Tunmore handed herself in to officers in July, almost 15 years after she battered Scott Pritchard to death with a baseball bat in a dispute over money.

The former football coach, 36, of Killingworth, Newcastle, was told she will serve a minimum of 17 years during sentencing at Newcastle Crown Court on Monday.

Mr Pritchard, 19, was found fatally injured outside his home in the Hendon area of Sunderland in January 2004 and later died in hospital.

Mr Pritchard had been using crutches when he was bludgeoned to death in January 2004 (PA)

The police investigation launched at the time of his death was unable to trace those responsible and the case remained open but unsolved for years.

His father, Robert Stacey, known as Fred, was initially charged with murdering his son and spent 16 weeks on remand before the case against him was dropped in 2005.

In a personal victim statement read to the court, Mr Stacey said people continued to shout abuse at him, even though he had been cleared.

He added he was scared to walk around Sunderland city centre “for fear of being accused of a crime I did not commit”.

Mr Pritchard, who was using crutches at the time of the attack, was subjected to what police described as a “brutal” beating by Tunmore.

The ensuing investigation was one of the largest ever to take place in Tyne and Wear, with more than 1,600 statements taken and 4,000 documents produced by 300 officers working on the case.

However, police had to wait more than a decade for the breakthrough they needed, which finally came this year when Tunmore walked into a Wallsend police station and confessed to the killing.

She told officers she had travelled to Sunderland on the night of the murder to collect a financial debt from Mr Pritchard, who was not previously known to her.

Karen Tunmore confessed to killing Scott Pritchard almost 15 years after his death (Northumbria Police)

When she realised it would not be possible to recover the money, she became enraged, attacking the teenager with a baseball bat before disposing of the weapon at another location.

Following the sentencing, Mr Pritchard’s parents paid tribute to their son, describing him as “kind, confident and well-liked”.

“Scott was a wonderful son who had his best years still ahead of him. He had so much to live for,” his mother, Kathleen Pritchard, said.

“He had grown into a kind, confident and well-liked young man who was cruelly taken from us 14 years ago.

“No sentence today could have brought Scott back, and the pain we have felt every day since he was murdered will never subside.

“There will always be a void in our lives where Scott once was. He was a wonderful son, a one in a million.”

During the investigation, police identified a second person – a male – thought to have travelled to Sunderland with Tunmore and been present at the time of Mr Pritchard’s murder.

Officers are now also urging this individual to come forward.

“Karen Tunmore has had to live with her horrifying secret for 14 years and she has finally been overcome by her guilt,” said DCI John Bent, of Northumbria Police.

“She clearly could not live another day with the needless death of a teenager on her conscience.

“A murder investigation is never closed until the conviction of those involved, and Scott’s parents deserved to see justice at long last.

“I would like to praise his family for their integrity, patience and cooperation throughout what has been an incredibly complex investigation, and such a distressing one for them.”