A JUDGE told a mum-of-three he did not believe she stabbed a drug addict to death over a petty drug debt - as he sentenced her to at least 16 years in jail.

Judge Philip Clegg is convinced Kathryn Taylor, 33, used the debt as a way of tricking Ricky Wyatt, 34, into meeting her in a car park in Little Lullaway, Laindon.

He said Wyatt, of Royal Court, Laindon, was heard screaming "It wasn't me! I didn't do it!" just moments before Taylor plunged a kitchen knife into his chest.

Yesterday at Basildon Crown Court, Judge Clegg said: "Sometime that afternoon Taylor conceived the idea of luring Ricky Wyatt for the purposes of killing him.

"She killed him for some reason. A reason we will never know.

"I do not believe it was because of the debt which could have been £5 or £15.

"It would appear she was accusing him of something, otherwise he wouldn't have said it wasn't me, I didn't do it'."

He made his feelings known as he sentenced Taylor for the murder of fellow heroin addict Wyatt on September 1, last year.

She was found guilty by a jury last Friday.

Taylor, of Gaywood, Laindon, sobbed and buried her head in her hands as she was told she must spend a minimum of 16 years in prison, before even being considered for parole.

At one point during the 90-minute hearing, Taylor, dressed in a brown cardigan and jeans, burst into tears and fled the dock, shouting "I've got to get out of here please."

Her co-defendent and friend Matthew Boulton, 30, sat stony faced as he was told he will spend two-and-a-half years in jail for helping Taylor to evade the police and for driving her away from the murder scene in a stolen car. Judge Clegg told Boulton, of Victoria Avenue, Southend, he had shown "callous indifference" as he stood by and watched Kathryn Taylor murder Ricky Wyatt.

He added: "The best that can be said about you is the assistance you gave her was limited."

The court also heard of Taylor and Boulton's lengthy criminal records for drugs, shoplifting and driving offences.

It was also revealed that Taylor - whose children are aged seven, 11 and 12 - began taking drugs in her mid-twenties after her then boyfriend got her involved in crack cocaine. Referring to Wyatt, who also had a string of convictions, Judge Clegg concluded: "Like anyone else, he was entitled to his life."