Prestatyn: Aurin Makepeace guilty of Steven Rothwell murder
Mr Rothwell was found dead in his bathroom at his Macclesfield home on August 19, 2025, having sustained a stab wound to his chest.
Makepeace, 43, of Victoria Road, denied murder and manslaughter, but a jury convicted her of murder at Chester Crown Court today (March 25) after a three-week trial and a deliberation of less than three hours.
Steven Rothwell (Image: Cheshire Police)
She showed no reaction when the jury returned its unanimous guilty verdict, and remains remanded in custody until she is sentenced on Friday, April 10.
Makepeace repeatedly broke down while giving evidence, and ultimately refused to return to the witness box before her barrister, Andrew Thomas KC, had finished questioning her.
The jury heard Makepeace and Mr Rothwell met in a men’s prison (Makepeace has since transitioned) in the early 2010s, she having committed an offence of wounding, and he having committed murder.
The prosecution argued that Makepeace fatally stabbed Mr Rothwell at his flat in Cross Street on the evening of August 18, before spending the night at his home and making her way back to Prestatyn the following morning.
Aurin Makepeace in a shop in Prestatyn (Image: CPS)
Makepeace claimed she was “grappling” with Mr Rothwell while he was holding a knife, and while that was happening, the knife inadvertently went into his chest.
Mr Rothwell had earlier threatened to kill another man, Gary Kuruc, after being told Mr Kuruc had slept with his “sometime girlfriend,” Katie Taylor; Makepeace said she tried to prevent Mr Rothwell from going to hurt Mr Kuruc.
Mr Rothwell was not discovered by police until 10.43pm on August 19, after Makepeace, by then back in Prestatyn, made a 999 call to report his death.
She was arrested in Prestatyn during the afternoon of August 20, having spent the intervening period drinking vodka under a bush.
By the time Makepeace called police, she had already told one person she “killed Steven,” and said to another: “I’ve murdered my boyfriend.”
Then, in the 999 call, Makepeace said she had “killed my boyfriend”.
Aurin Makepeace looking in a shop window (Image: CPS)
Blood staining attributable to Mr Rothwell and Makepeace was found in the bathroom, shower and kitchen sinks at his flat.
A knife in a utensil holder at Mr Rothwell's flat appeared to contain watered-down blood on it, while a blanket was found over Mr Rothwell’s body, but Makepeace denied putting this on him.
Mr Rothwell was only wearing a pair of blue Nike shorts when police discovered his body; the prosecution argued this did not suggest he was preparing to leave his flat when he was fatally injured.
Police had been called earlier on August 18 after a passer-by saw Mr Rothwell shouting at Ms Taylor on a street in Macclesfield, but he and Ms Taylor blocked each other’s phone numbers upon request from the officer who attended at about 8pm that night.
Aurin Makepeace at Prestatyn railway station (Image: CPS)
In her police interviews, Makepeace said Mr Rothwell was “accidentally hurt” while they were “grappling”.
But Richard Pratt KC, prosecuting, said this was “no accident,” and Makepeace, after having “some thinking time,” concocted an “implausible story that this was a horrible accident”.
The jury was also told Makepeace received an indeterminate sentence after stabbing a man unknown to her to the jaw and neck, causing him life-threatening injuries, in 2007.
She was released from prison in 2021, before her post-release licence was terminated in 2025 following a period of good behaviour.
Her other previous convictions included actual and grievous bodily harm, battery, affray, and assaulting a police officer, some of which were committed against then-partners.
Makepeace moved to Rhyl in 2021 or 2022, and then relocated to a static home in Prestatyn.
She worked at the Lyons Robin Hood holiday park in Rhyl, and Greggs stores on Rhyl’s High Street and Prestatyn’s Parc Prestatyn Shopping Park, becoming store manager at the latter.
