Alfie Stone murder: Woman facing life in prison for stabbing teenager to death in row over pasta

Victim: Alfie Stone, 18, tried to protect himself with a board
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A woman who stabbed a teenager through the heart during a “pointless” row over stolen pasta is facing life in prison after being found guilty of his murder.

Maxine Benson, 32, knifed 18-year-old Alfie Stone in the street as he desperately tried to use a chip shop advertising board to protect himself.

The violent outburst came after an argument over pasta swiped from her kitchen spilled out into the streets of Ickenham, west London.

Benson believed Alfie or his brother Jake had eaten the food while visiting their bedsit two days earlier, and she lashed out with a knife to inflict a serious chest wound and pierce Alfie’s heart.

The teenager, from Hillingdon, bled heavily from the wound and died a short time later in hospital.

Benson had already pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and an Old Bailey jury today found her guilty of murder. Co-defendants Corine Cripps, 29 and Steve Hawgood, 28, were cleared of murder, but the jury is continuing to deliberate over an alternative charge of manslaughter.

It was alleged they chanted “stab 'im, stab 'im” while Benson wielded the knife.

Prosecutor Tony Badenoch QC said the Stone brothers visited the bedsit in Ickenham High Street on November 7 last year and are said to have tucked into the bowl of pasta.

When they returned to the block two days later, the “pointless argument” over the stolen food blew up again.

“There was then an argument, apparently about pasta during which Corine Cripps accused Jake and Alfie of having eaten food which didn’t belong to them when they stayed previously a couple of night ago”, he said.

“The argument continued with Maxine Benson, remaining at the top of the stairs and shouting at Jake about the pasta.”

The row escalated outside Tesco Express in the main road, as commuters returned home from work at nearby West Ruislip Tube station.

"Maxine Benson wielded the knife. She was witnessed to do so by members of the public and CCTV in part, on the day she knifed him in the chest and then left the scene leaving him laying dying”, said Mr Badenoch.

Benson dumped the knife shortly after the stabbing and lay low with a friend until handing herself in to police.

She now faces life in prison when she is sentenced later this week. The jury continues to deliberate on Cripps and Hawgood.

A second charge of attempted grievous bodily harm against Jake Stone was removed from the jury midway through the trial.

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