Nimalarajah Mathiyadaranam admitted murder after knifing 44-year-old Nilani Nimalarajah 18 times
Nimalarajah Mathiyadaranam admitted the murder of Nilani Nimalarajah(Image: Merseyside Police )
A man who bought a block of knives from Asda before he stabbed his estranged wife to death has been jailed for life. Nimalarajah Mathiyadaranam was said to have knifed his former partner Nilani Nimalarajah a total of 18 times in the shop where she worked, Low Cost Food and Wine on Stanley Road in Bootle, due to his “anger” over not being invited to a family celebration.
The 47-year-old defendant earlier donned a “disguise” as he purchased the weapon used in the attack, which snapped due to the ferocity of the “merciless, sustained and extremely brutal” assault, in a supermarket before stashing it in a JD Sports bag and making his way to the scene on a bus. He then downed whisky and “poisoned” himself with a pesticide after killing Nilani, having already been banned from contacting the 44-year-old mum of his three children due to previous episodes of “violence and harassment”.
Mathiyadaranam had denied her murder and possession of a bladed article in a public place and went on trial at Liverpool Crown Court this week. However, he then changed his plea to guilty yesterday, Thursday.
Returning to courtroom 32 to be sentenced this morning, Friday, Mathiyadaranam showed no reaction as he was handed a life sentence with a minimum term of 29 years behind bars. Sentencing, Judge Brian Cummings KC said: “The whole incident was captured on CCTV footage. It makes for harrowing viewing.
“During the attack, you present as controlled, purposeful and matter of fact. Once the attack was over, you drank poison that you had brought with you and threw the bottle down at or near your wife’s head. Your daughter, then aged 17, appeared at the front of the shop from outside just after the attack and can be seen frantically trying to force the door open while you just stood there, looking on.
“In my judgement, there are a number of serious aggravating factors. I am entirely satisfied that, as the prosecution have always maintained, this was premeditated murder and a significant level of planning, including the precautions that you took to avoid being detected before you had done what you set out to do, is evident from the circumstances.
“I am left with the conclusion that this was an exceptionally cruel and brutal murder, in the course of which the victim was subjected to an exceptional level of mental and physical suffering. The victim, who was, by all accounts, a kind and thoroughly decent woman, as well as a good mother, was effectively trapped in the shop in terror of her life and subjected to a number of blows with a large knife.
“You appeared to be jabbing the knife into your wife’s face, possibly jabbing into her eyes, and, at the end of the attack, you, in a very controlled manner, are seen to insert the knife twice into your victim’s abdomen and, for want of a better expression, manipulate it. What your actions demonstrate is that you were absolutely determined that your victim did not survive and were callously indifferent to any enhanced suffering that you occasioned in achieving that end.
“There are six other aggravating factors. Firstly, this was an offence of domestic violence. That, in itself, is a very serious aggravating factor. Secondly, you have relevant previous convictions. Thirdly, you breached the orders imposed following those convictions, which were intended to prevent any further domestic violence.
“Fourthly, you committed the murder in circumstances where there was every risk that it or its immediate aftermath would be seen by members of the public, including your own children, who lived in the flat above the shop. You closed the shop door behind you to avoid being interrupted, but the killing happened just inside, with a window between you and the busy main road outside.
“[Your daughter] did in fact witness the immediate aftermath, as did a number of members of the public. It is not a matter of you wanting to have an audience, but you did commit the murder at a location to which the public had ready access, at a time of day when there were lot of people about.
“Fifthly, you committed the murder while under the influence of alcohol. Sixthly, as is apparent, it has had devastating consequences for all three of your children. They are, effectively, now orphaned.
“It is certainly the position that you were, for the majority of your life, a decent, hard working family man. But your life began to spiral some years ago. You began drinking to excess and became dependant on alcohol. Efforts to assist you were unsuccessful.
“It is, undoubtedly, a sad picture, but, I am afraid, there is nothing, in my judgement, which reduces your culpability. You knew exactly what you were doing. Nor, I am afraid, can I accept the suggestion that you have shown any meaningful remorse. Remorse means being sorry for what you have done. Until yesterday morning, you were denying responsibility for the lion’s share of your misconduct, including, of course, the murder.
“You may never be released from prison. You will not even be considered for release until you have served the minimum term which I have indicated. Even then, you will only be released if and when the Parole Board considers it safe to do so. I would like to express my own sorrow to the family, in particular the children, my gratitude to the police, and indeed members of the public, who assisted in respect of this matter, my gratitude to counsel and, once again, my gratitude to the jury.”
Nilani Nimalarajah died after being stabbed to death at Low Cost Food and Wine in Bootle(Image: )
Annabel Darlow KC previously told jurors, all 12 of whom returned to court for today’s hearing, during the prosecution’s opening on Wednesday: “On Friday the 20th of June of last year, this defendant, armed with a large knife, went to a convenience store in Bootle here in Liverpool, where his estranged wife, Nilani Nimalarajah, was working. He entered the store and stabbed his wife to death.
“It was a merciless, sustained and extremely brutal attack. He stabbed Nilani at least 18 times, deliberately targeting the areas of her chest and her head. Indeed, he stabbed her with such ferocity that it caused the tip of the knife to be broken off.
“The prosecution’s case is that the defendant deliberately planned this murder. Hours before he killed Nilani, he went to a shop where he purchased a whole block of knives and some duct tape.
“He had become estranged from his family and, indeed, at the time of the killing was subject to court restraining orders, which prohibited, or should have prohibited, him from approaching his elder daughter and Nilani at all. Those orders were imposed following earlier incidents of violence and harassment, committed by this defendant.
“The trigger for Nilani’s murder appears to have been this defendant’s anger and his misplaced sense of pride that he had not been involved or invited into a significant family event. The defendant is of Sri Lankan heritage, and part of his cultural heritage involves the family holding a celebration when a girl has her first menstrual period.
“Nilani’s second daughter had recently celebrated this milestone in her young life, but the defendant had not been invited to the traditional celebration. His reaction was one of the most appalling and pre-meditated violence.”
The jury heard that Mathiyadaranam, of Warrington Road in Widnes, moved to the UK from his home country in 2002 before becoming wedded to Nilani by an arranged marriage in 2005. But his “personality changed” when he “turned to drink” following issues with his businesses, ultimately leading to a conviction for assaulting his brother by biting him in 2024 and being banned from contacting his partner and eldest daughter, aged 17, under a restraining order.
Against this background, Ms Darlow added: “On or about the 7th of June 2025, Nilani’s second daughter had her first menstrual period. The family had a small celebration at home to celebrate that milestone. The defendant was not invited to or informed about the event. But, in accordance with culture and tradition, the family would then expect to have a larger celebration about a month later, to which more people would be invited.
“The defendant was not invited to this event. Indeed, he could not be invited due to the restraining orders. It appears, in due course, that the defendant found out about these events and became extremely angry.”
On the day of the fatal stabbing, Mathiyadaranam was captured on CCTV boarding a bus in Birkenhead shortly after midday and travelling to the Bootle area. He was then seen visiting Strand Shopping Centre, purchasing a roll of duct tape from Poundland before making his way to the nearby Asda supermarket.
There, Mathiyadaranam was said to have “donned a basic disguise” and entered the store, pulling a surgical face mask over his face before buying a block of five knives. Having dumped the packing in bushes and stashed the bladed articles in a yellow JD Sports drawstring bag, he was thereafter seen sitting outside the job centre on Stanley Road before dropping out of the view of CCTV cameras for around two-and-a-half hours.
However, shortly before 4.30pm, Mathiyadaranam then “confronted” his eldest daughter at Pound Plus in Kirkdale. Ms Darlow said of this: “She thought that he was drunk. She told the defendant that he should not be there, that the family were not on speaking terms with him and he had not done what the family had asked him to do, which was to go into rehabilitation. She did not want to be near her father, because he was known to be aggressive. She spoke to her mother, and Nilani told her get a taxi home.”
Mathiyadaranam was subsequently said to have boarded another bus to take him to the area of Nilani’s workplace, with Ms Darlow saying: “The bus pulls in at the stop outside Low Cost Food and Wine at 4.37pm. The defendant does not get off at that bus stop.
“What he does, the prosecution say quite deliberately, is he gets off at the next bus stop, because what he wants to do, and the prosecution say that this is a theme, is to avoid giving his wife notice of his arrival. He does not want to give her any chance to flee or protect herself.
“When he gets off the bus, he walks towards King’s Gardens. He goes into the gardens through a gap in the hedge at 4.42pm. Some 17 minutes later, just before five o’clock, he reappears and, by now, he has got the hood of his coat pulled up and he is wearing a surgical mask.”
Of his entry into the park, Ms Darlow added: “He has got the JD Sports bag out, the hood of his jacket is down. He is not wearing his mask. But, when he comes out at 4.59pm, the prosecution say that he has got himself ready for the murder.
“He has pulled his hood up. He is wearing a jacket, despite the heat of this midsummer day. He has got the bag concealed underneath his jacket. He walks down the stairs and sits on the wall.
“You can see that the defendant has deliberately stationed himself diagonally opposite the store where his wife was working. He sits on the wall, adjusting his coat, and looks in the direction of Low Cost Food and Wine for just under three minutes. The prosecution suggest that he is waiting until the shop is empty of customers and his wife is alone and utterly defenceless.”
Nimalarajah Mathiyadaranam admitted the murder of Nilani Nimalarajah(Image: Merseyside Police)
At around 5pm, CCTV footage captured Mathiyadaranam crossing the road towards the shop and briefly “lurking” outside on the pavement. With Nilani having apparently been alerted to his presence on the store’s CCTV cameras, she was seen taking hold of her mobile phone and leaving the counter in order to open a door which had been opened by her ex-husband as he entered after the “last customer” had left.
Mathiyadaranam then pulled out a knife which had been “deliberately concealed in his coat”, with a tussle ensuing when Nilani returned to the till area. Ms Darlow added: “He has got hold of her by the neck. He is dragging her forward. Nilani can be seen trying to pull away from the defendant.
“The defendant drags Nilani by the neck, holding the knife and using it to repeatedly stab Nilani. She is pushed into the lottery display, causing it to topple. She is pulling frantically at the handle of the door to get out, but, after multiple stabs, collapses to the floor.
“You have no doubt seen the blood spattering at the defendant’s feet. The defendant deliberately continues the horrific violence of the attack. You may have noticed that he lifts up her shirt at one stage of the attack, the prosecution deliberately so he can make sure that the knife is penetrating into her vital organs. He appears to dig the knife even deeper into her torso, even when the knife has already penetrated her.
“We say it is a slow, purposeful, deliberate attack, designed to give Miss Nilani no chance at all of survival. What it is not is frenzied or out of control. It is deliberate. He only stops when she is motionless and so badly injured that there can be no doubt she is at death’s door. Once that happens, he steps back and throws down the knife.”
With the couple’s 17-year-old daughter having been present in the flat above the shop, where she then lived with her mum and younger sisters, Ms Darlow continued: “The upstairs flat is equipped with CCTV which shows what is happening in the store. She looked at the camera and saw someone lying on the floor of the shop. She thought that it was a member of the public who was, perhaps, passed out, and her mother would help this person. So, she goes downstairs to help her mother.
“When she makes it downstairs, she discovers that the person on the floor is her mother, and she cannot open the door to help her mother because her mother’s collapsed body is blocking the door. She found the defendant next to her mother on the floor, speaking to her. She tries to flee and goes to the chicken shop next door, calls 999 and calls as many people as possible to help.”
A healthcare assistant, Jodie Reardon, who was passing the scene while taking the bus to work then “became aware of the commotion outside the shop and people screaming for help”. She approached the scene and applied pressure to Nilani’s wounds, having found her “unconscious, bleeding heavily but still breathing very slowly”.
Ms Reardon was also able to kick the knife underneath an freezer containing ice creams for sale in order “to stop it being used further”. She meanwhile recalled that Mathiyadaranam was “looking as if nothing happened and staring”, reporting that, when she cut her clothing away in order to administer medical aid, he “shook his head, as if saying ‘don’t be doing that'”.
Another witness, Jane Arhad, saw with an “expressionless look on his face, someone who was unaffected by the scene in front of him”. Cameras inside the store also captured him “swigging from a bottle” of Whyte and Mackay whisky before police arrived and arrested him.
Mathiyadaranam was said to have told officers “I did this” at this stage, adding that he was “very upset as he had not seen his daughters for the last 18 months”. He went on to “complain that the handcuffs were too tight for him” and said: “I’m not running, don’t worry.”
Having been taken into custody at St Anne Street Police Station, Mathiyadaranam was described as “sweating profusely”, with PCs “noticing a strong chemical smell”. He was said to have been “unsteady on his feet and appearing short of breath”, having also “lost control of his bowels”.
Mathiyadaranam went on to report that he had drunk vodka and “taken poison”, although he “said he did not know what he had taken”. He was taken to the Royal Liverpool Hospital after his condition deteriorated further, having “complained of stomach pains” and stated he “had been drinking alcohol all day”.
With doctors suspecting he had ingested a pesticide, shards of a broken brown glass bottle were discovered near to the doorway of Low Cost Food and Wine. These largely contained “foreign writing”, although the word “poison” had been written in English on its side.
Following his discharge from hospital, Mathiyadaranam made no comment when interviewed by detectives on July 16. However, when examined by a consultant forensic psychiatrist, instructed by his defence team in order to assess his fitness to plead, during August and September 2025, he told the doctor that he had “become very upset” during a visit to Sri Lanka during June 2025, when he learned of his second daughter “attaining maturity” via a friend.
Mathiyadaranam was also said to have reported during these consultations that he was “angry he had not been invited to this event” and bought a pesticide, which a relative of his had previously used to take his own life, while in his home country. He went on to tell the psychiatrist he “felt an impulsive desire to end his own life, but decided his wife had made everyone else suffer so she should die also”.
While he had apparently “briefly changed his mind”, Mathiyadaranam then reported that he had decided to kill Nilani after seeing his daughter outside Pound Plus, an event which left him believing “his wife must have turned her against him”. During these interviews, he also stated he had worn a face mask as he “did not want his wife to press the panic alarm” and told her “he was going to kill her then kill himself” after entering the store.
However, Mathiyadaranam recalled she “asked him not to kill himself and orphan the children”, although he “consumed the pesticide and awaited his arrest” after the stabbing. He next recalled “waking in hospital 20 days later, having been in a coma”.
Attempts at resuscitation were made at the scene following the stabbing, but Nilani was subsequently pronounced dead in hospital at 5.53pm. A post-mortem investigation later found she had suffered 14 stab wounds and four slash wounds to her chest, back, head, neck, abdomen, groin, left arm and hand, some of which pierced her left lung, heart, skull and spine.
Tim Forte KC, defending, said on behalf of Mathiyadaranam today: “This was never an offence driven by pleasure. It is rather driven by wrongfully considered pride and ego, a man from a strong patriarchal background, entirely properly, excluded from his family due to his inability to stop drinking and control his actions.
“There is a history, clearly, but we do say it is not a situation of a long planned revenge attack which has been festering since the previous incidents. This is all borne of his alcohol dependency and the problems that has brought with it.
“The previous convictions are limited. What do they show is a previous outburst of unacceptable violence against his wife and wider family. It also demonstrates his inability to control his inner demons. Those who speak of him speak of him as loving, kind and generous, except when in alcohol.
“Much as a drunken intent can still be an intention, it is not something that he would have had, had he been sober. He put himself in that position by taking alcohol. Our instructions are that he had been drinking through the night. He also drank in the morning. He bought four cans of vodka based drink and consumed them also. His judgement is impaired and his understanding is impaired.
“Clearly, there is a lot of emotional instability, caused by the familial problems which he caused by his alcoholism. He then is in Sri Lanka and finds out the news that is, to him, a very grave blow. That has caused underlying paranoia and low mood. The most we can say is that it has upset him so much that he intends to kill himself. The first point we can properly conclude that there is more afoot is the purchase of the knives.
“It is an intent to kill borne of the product of his fragile pride, his self destructive life and his alcoholism. There is obviously deep seated antipathy because of what he saw as a betrayal, which was, in reality, a protection of her family due to his inability to act as a father and husband. It is a prolonged mental collapse, paranoia and alcohol dependence.
“The attack only actually lasted a minute or so. It is not a case of truly prolonged, elongated periods of suffering and torture. This is a fatal stabbing designed to kill and, sadly, it achieved its end. He clearly attempted and intended to kill himself. He waivered between wanting to kill himself in front of Ms Nimalarajah to punish her, in his eyes and his terms, not something which we suggest is accurate, then at times to kill her as well. That is where we were on that day, sadly.
“He came to the UK in 1999, aged 21. He was granted asylum two years later. He held down employment until alcohol dependency took all that away. We say that paranoia is part and parcel of what lay behind his actions that day.
“The marriage in 2005 was a happy relationship until a couple of years ago, when alcohol lay waste to everything. He is a man described universally as a loving father and kind hearted man when not in drink. Therein lies the problem. He bears responsibility for it, and nobody else.”
