Nigerian Man Jailed for Life in UK After Killing Ex-Colleague Who Ended Relationship

A Nigerian social worker, Adedapo Adegbola, has been sentenced to life imprisonment in the United Kingdom for the murder of his colleague, 23-year-old Stephanie Irons, after she ended what the court described as a controlling relationship.

The 40-year-old fatally stabbed Irons in the neck at her home in Mapperley, Nottinghamshire, on October 21, 2025. Having pleaded guilty to murder last month, he was told at Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday, February 5, 2026, that he must serve a minimum of 25 years behind bars.

Court proceedings revealed that Adegbola had become obsessed with Irons and was unwilling to accept the breakup. Judge Nirmal Shant KC noted that his controlling behavior prompted her to end the relationship, a decision he refused to respect.

On the day of the attack, Adegbola reportedly purchased two knives after work and took a taxi to Irons’s residence, arriving shortly after she returned home. Prosecutors said he entered the house while she appeared to be taking out her bins and left nearly two hours later.

Concerned colleagues later visited the property when she failed to respond, eventually alerting police. Officers gained entry through a rear window and found Irons lying on her back in a pool of blood.

Prosecutor Peter Joyce KC told the court that Adegbola had sent coworkers screenshots of sexually explicit messages from Irons’s phone, likely after the killing.

The court heard he inflicted multiple wounds before delivering the fatal stab to her neck, then remained seated on the couch as she lay dying. He locked the house, took her phone and keys, and fled, discarding his clothing and the weapon along the way.

“You took the life of a young woman whose only fault was to love you at one time,” the judge said during sentencing.

Adegbola later turned himself in to police and formally admitted guilt in January.