Ex-prisoner, 50, tells court he ‘loved’ girlfriend, 47, he is accused of murdering

A cage fighter had two prison flings with the girlfriend he is accused of killing over her affair with a teenage boy, a court heard today.

Paul Robson, 50, denies blackmailing and murdering Caroline Kayll, 47, and attempting to murder a 15-year-old with whom she was illegally having sex. 

Newcastle Crown Court heard Robson had been sentenced to 10 years in jail for drugs and firearms offences, and it was while he was behind bars that he met Mrs Kayll – who was working as a prison teacher.

It was said they started a clandestine relationship in prison and he moved in to her home in Linton, Northumberland, after he was freed.

When their relationship ended, he found out she had been having underage sex with a teenager, and the jury was told he blackmailed her about it, threatening to ruin her.

He was then said to have travelled from Glasgow to her home, where the jury was told he murdered Mrs Kayll and severely injured the teenage boy in November 2020.

Robson, of Wallsend, North Tyneside, denies murder, attempted murder and blackmailing his ex-partner. He claims he was attacked by the teenager in Mrs Kayll’s home.  

The cage fighter first met Mrs Kayll, who was married to a security manager at what was to become HMP Northumberland, in 2005.

He told the court: ‘She started telling us she had feelings for me. I was a bit taken aback. I did like her, she was lovely.

‘I did fancy her but I thought, ‘Dangerous ground, prison officer’ and I was not too keen to stick my neck through the noose’.

James Mulholland QC, defending, asked: ‘Did it become sexual at that stage?’

Robson replied: ‘Not intercourse but it was sexual.’

He was released and did not see Mrs Kayll for many years, he said, until he was back behind bars in 2014.

The jury has heard Robson was jailed for 10 years for drug and firearms offences.

He was a cleaner at HMP Northumberland and he claimed Mrs Kayll applied for him to work on the education department, and their relationship started again.

Robson said: ‘It was wrong because we were in prison and we couldn’t relax but I liked her.’

He said they had a sexual relationship behind bars for around a year until he was released, and claimed she made the arrangements by getting him to be sent to her department.

Robson said that after his release he had planned to settle in Scotland, having previously lived in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Glasgow and where he still has relatives.

But he said he changed his mind when she told him she had cancer.

He said they went to stay in a converted barn for the weekend when he was released and that was when she told him about her poor health.

Robson said he then thought: ‘I’m going to stay to support her.’

Mr Mulholland asked: ‘How did you feel about her?’

The defendant replied: ‘I loved her.’

Robson said around six months after his release, Mrs Kayll left her husband and moved into a friend’s cottage where he would regularly stay.

Asked if her husband had known about their relationship behind bars, the defendant said: ‘I don’t think he had a clue.’

Earlier, Robson told the court he had 21 convictions for 92 offences over more than 30 years and there had been lengthy spells in jail.

He said he had only had two cage fights, both in 2010, and he was more interested in conditioning coaching.

Robson said: ‘I gave mixed martial arts a go but it’s not for me. It’s a brutal, hard way of life and not for an old man. It’s a young man’s game.’

Robson is accused of blackmailing Mrs Kayll when he found out about her having sex with a boy, and threatened to ruin her.

The court has heard Robson was ‘unlawfully at large’ at the time of the killing, having been recalled to prison in March 2019 because he had breached his licence. 

Robson wept in the witness box as he claimed that he found Caroline Kayll fatally injured on her dining room floor.

Robson claimed he had gone to Caroline’s house to reclaim his work tools and the remaining money she owed him.

He said she answered when he knocked at the back of the house and they were arguing when he felt a blow to the head and gloved hands around his throat.

He caimed that after recovering his senses he looked up to see the boy running away through the house and gave chase, finding him in the en suite bathroom to the main bedroom.

Robson said: ‘He lunged at me with a bread knife in his hand and tried to stab me but it has a rounded end and didn’t go in. His hand slipped along the blade and cut his hand.’

He said a struggle broke out in which he overpowered the boy and forced him to go back downstairs.

He broke down in tears as he told how at that point he saw Caroline on the floor for the first time.

Robson wept as he said: ‘I’ve got her hair all over my hands and I was trying to wipe her blood from my hands.

‘Her hair came away in my hands as I tried to give her first aid. I wanted to give her mouth to mouth but her mouth was full of blood.

‘I went outside and got the garden hose and used it to clear her face.’

However he claims before he could help Caroline he saw the boy approaching with a meat cleaver in his hands and ran into the garage to escape.

He carefully returned to the house, he said, just as the boy attacked Caroline with the cleaver.

He said: ‘He struck her with it and slashed her across the lower part of her buttocks.’

Robson claimed he then disarmed the boy, who continued fighting back.

Robson said: ‘He was still shouting, he was going on and on and fighting back. he was kicking me, trying to go for me. I hit him a lot, I just kept going until he shut up.’

He said he ran next door to get help from Barbara Lee, who he knew was a nurse and her husband Brian.

‘I needed to get help,’ he claimed. ‘I had gone over the top with the kid, I’d made a mess of him and I needed to get help for Caroline. I was panicking.’

When the Lees arrived and began trying to help Caroline and the boy, Robson got into his van and left, remaining at large until he was caught by the police four days later,

His barrister James Mulholland, QC, asked him why he left.

He replied: ‘Barbara told me to leave. I was like a robot, I just left. I didn’t want to, I wanted to stay to make sure she was all right but I didn’t.’

He was asked whether he knew where he was going and replied: ‘No, not really.’

The trial continues