By SUNTV Global Channel
February 5, 2026
A Nigerian national, Adedapo Adegbola, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his former British girlfriend, 23-year-old university student Steph Irons, in Nottingham, England.
The 40-year-old was sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court, where the judge ordered that he must serve a minimum of 25 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole. Adegbola had earlier pleaded guilty to the killing, which occurred on October 21, 2025, at Irons’ home in Mapperley, Nottingham.
According to prosecutors, Adegbola became obsessively fixated on Irons after their relationship ended and deliberately planned the attack.
The court heard that he purchased two knives online prior to the incident and travelled by taxi to Irons’ residence. He reportedly lay in wait and ambushed her as she stepped outside to dispose of refuse bins, before forcing his way into the house where he carried out the fatal stabbing.
Alarm was raised when Irons’ colleagues received a series of disturbing messages sent from her phone. Police later arrived at the scene and discovered her body in the living room with multiple stab wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Following the attack, Adegbola fled the area, discarding bloodstained clothing and other items along streets in Mapperley and Carlton, Nottinghamshire Police confirmed. Investigators said he travelled through several towns, including Mansfield, Worksop, Sheffield, and Hull, before eventually handing himself over to the authorities.
Although he refused to answer questions during police interviews, detectives were able to reconstruct his movements before and after the killing using forensic and digital evidence.
Reacting to the judgment, the lead investigator, Detective Inspector Stuart Barson, described Steph Irons as a “caring and compassionate young woman” whose life was taken in “horrific circumstances.”
He noted that Adegbola made no attempt to seek medical help for the victim and was focused solely on escaping and destroying evidence.
In a moving victim impact statement, Irons’ mother said her family had been devastated and broken by the loss. She described her daughter as a loving, compassionate individual with dreams of pursuing a doctorate in clinical psychology after completing her studies.
The court acknowledged the profound impact of the crime on the victim’s family, as the case brought to a close one of the most disturbing domestic homicide trials in recent Nottingham history.
