A woman who was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder after getting drunk and knifing her partner in the heart during an argument has spoken of the moment she had to tell her young son she was behind bars for killing his father.
Tonight’s episode of Channel 4 show Prison, featured Lexi Heckles, 40, from Bradford, who knifed former boxer Scott Dunne in a row after she said she was going on holiday to Spain without him on January 18 2014.
She was arrested after neighbours heard her screaming and shouting and furniture being upturned and called 999 – and his blood was found spattered bank card hidden in her bra.
Now, Lexi, who is also mother to a 21-year-old and has been behind the walls of HMP Foston Hall for five years, has told of her struggles of having to tell her six-year-old son what she is in prison for.
‘Now he’s getting older he’s started to ask me loads of questions,’ she explained. ‘He wants to know why I’m here.’
Lexi Heckles (pictured), 40, from Bradford, told of her struggles of telling her six-year-old son she killed his father in tonight’s episode of Channel 4’s Prison
Lexi Heckles got drunk then knifed Scott Dunne in the heart during a row. She was arrested after her neighbours heard her screaming and called 999 (pictured together)
She continued: ‘It’s not that easy to just tell him, “Mummy’s working.” He’s not having that now. He’s too bright and he’s getting too old to be told that.’
During the programme, which explored the emotionally charged difficulties of being a mother and in prison, Lexi told how she and her partner were in a destructive relationship fuelled by alcohol which came to a violent end six years ago.
‘We started drinking and the rowing developed,’ she said. ‘He pushed me, I pushed him. It got really nasty, but it wasn’t unusual.’
‘I had no reason to think it wasn’t going to be like any other night because maybe two nights out of seven we would argue, so it wasn’t unusual. But, it was quite nasty.
Lexi (pictured) told how on the night of the murder, she had no reason to think it wasn’t going to be like any other night, because maybe two nights out of seven she and Scott would argue
Lexi said it had become increasingly difficult to explain to her son why she’s away from the family (Pictured: Lexi during a visit with her son)
Lexi revealed how if it was something less complex, she could have just told her son she was in prison for being ‘naughty’
She continued: ‘About half past 11 I decided I’d had enough and I got up and left and went into the bedroom. The door burst open and he had two knives. He threw the smaller one, and the instinct part of me just went towards him.’
‘When I grabbed hold of him he pushed me with his right shoulder and I went back onto the bed. I came straight back up and at that point I went to grab hold of his arm again and he dropped the knife.’
‘Without a second’s thought, I lent down and grabbed the knife. As I’m coming up from the bed he’s still coming towards me and I just struck him once. I behaved on instinct. I didn’t think about it. There was no thought process.’
‘I put my hands over it and was trying to talk to him. I’m saying, “Scott, speak to me, speak to me.” And he didn’t…he couldn’t speak.’
Lexi went on to say how as her son got older, she became increasingly aware there were only so many stories she could fob him off with.
‘I used to tell him I was looking after the donkeys and he was like, “Mum someone else can look after them now,” she said.
‘If it were something less complex you could say, “Mummy’s in prison because she’s been naughty. It’s a lot more complicated than Mummy being naughty. Mummy and Daddy have been naughty.’
‘This isn’t because I feel shame telling him, it’s because I want to protect him. I think it’d be easier if his mum weren’t in prison for killing his dad.’
Throughout the programme, Lexi tried to impress with her good behaviour in a bid to be eligible for parole in four years, and told of her hope of getting permission to use Folston Hall’s new family bonding unit – a converted house within the prison grounds.
Lexi went on to say how as her son got older, she became increasingly aware there were only so many stories she could fob him off. Pictured, with her pet budgie
‘Because he’s starting to ask more questions now, I think any conversation that takes place around that needs to be somewhere safe, more private and somewhere relaxed,’ she explained.
The unit allows families time and space to have more sensitive conversations, and Lexi’s efforts to get access to it was motivated by her son’s increasingly searching questions.
And the big day with her family in the bonding unit arrived on her son’s sixth birthday – marking the first time Lexi was with him away from other prisoners in five years.
Lexi’s parents Teresa and Barry became her youngest son’s legal guardians just weeks after his birth.
But after six hours in the unit, Lexi and her family had to separate, and the day passed without Lexi and her youngest son talking about her conviction.
Instead, Lexi opted to have a private moment between the two of them to tell him about her past.
Prison concluded tonight 9pm on Channel 4
Lexi (pictured) and her family had to separate after spending six hours together in the unit, she opted for a private moment to tell her son about her past
Lexi hadn’t been alone with her son away from other prisoners in five years (Pictured: Lexi and her son at the unit)