Moment ex-sister-in-law slaps phone out of pub landlord's hand as he rings 999 saying she wants him dead - before he is stabbed and she tells police 'I'm glad I did it' in footage shown to murder jury

A pub landlord is seen on the phone to police seconds before he was stabbed to death with a kitchen knife by his former sister in law, a court has heard. 

Stephanie Langley knocks the phone out of Matthew Bryant's hand before the pair disappear from view where Mr Bryant was stabbed twice in the back and once in the chest. 

Later she is filmed in the back of a police car after her arrest, telling an officer: 'I took a knife and I killed him.'

Minutes earlier he had rung the police to say that she had threatened to kill him before leaving his pub but said she would return.

The line was still open when Mr Bryant, 52, was fatally wounded, and he was able to tell the emergency services operator: 'I have just been stabbed'.

Witnesses to the terrifying incident said Langley, a 54 year old mum, had shouted 'I told you I would stab you' while repeatedly knifing Mr Bryant, before later remarking 'I'm glad I did it and I don't mind going to jail' while paramedics desperately tried to save his life.

Now footage of the moments before and after the attack, which happened outside the Hare and Hounds in Maidstone at around 6pm on September 11 has been released.

In the video, Mr Bryant can be seen inside the pub on the phone to police. During this call, he tells the operator that his former sister-in-law had threatened to kill him.

CCTV then shows Mr Bryant outside the pub with Langley, and, still on the line with the police, he tries to hand the phone to her.

But she knocks the device out of his hand and when he goes to retrieve it off-camera, she allegedly stabbed him.

A witness described how Langley had lunged forward with the kitchen knife and stabbed Mr Bryant's right shoulder blade twice before shouting 'I told you I would stab you'.

Pub customer Eddie Williams said she then held the weapon over her head 'in a dagger motion' before plunging it 'with great force' into Mr Bryant's chest.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that this third wound proved fatal.

In a video taken inside a police car after the attack, which was also released Langley tells an officer: 'I will tell you exactly as it happened; I took a knife and I killed him.'

Despite previously being related by marriage, Mr Bryant's first contact with Langley in 21 years was when she had turned up at his pub in May 2023.

She did not know he was the landlord of the Hare and Hounds and he did not recognise her.

However, jurors heard that she later described the encounter as 'a massive shock' which left her 'almost uncontrollable'.

Langley's son Cameron Langley-McColm told Maidstone Crown Court that his mother had alleged that Mr Bryant was violent, abusive, and had committed rape.

He added that she became so angry during the encounter with Mr Bryant in May that he had to make her leave the pub.

However, she returned later, still drunk, and shouted that she was going to kill Mr Bryant, jurors heard.

Prosecutors explained that Langley had been going through various personal and financial difficulties at the time which had placed her under a great deal of stress.

Her mother was ill, her son had been involved in a serious road accident, she faced a hefty bill for repairs to her Volvo, and she was drinking more than usual.

However, by the time she returned to Mr Bryant's pub in September, her former brother-in-law had become 'the focal point of her rage', prosecutor Nina Ellin KC said.

Earlier in the day on September 11, Langley's son told her he would be playing pool at Mr Bryant's pub.

She replied: 'Enjoy your pool with the w*****'. Later, she told him: 'I'll see you there. Crazy mum remember.'

CCTV then captured Langley arriving at the Hare and Hounds at 5.53pm and being served a drink by Mr Bryant who joined her at a table.

She was later seen trying to smash Mr Bryant's phone out of his hand while he was serving a customer - someone who Langley allegedly told: 'Get a drink while he is still alive.'

Just six minutes later, Mr Bryant's wife Caroline - who did not know Langley - asked her to leave and told her husband to phone the police.

But as Langley got up, she allegedly told him: 'You're dead tonight.'

Langley then drove her car to Maidstone East Train station and left it parked there with the hazard lights on before she walked back to the pub.

By 6.05pm, Mr Bryant was outside and in the middle of his police call, which was also played in court.

He was heard calmly telling the operator that his former sister-in-law had threatened to kill him - adding that a few months earlier she had been at the pub 'gunning for me'.

Mr Bryant said that he had not reported that incident because he had not taken it seriously.

'But today, she has come in intentionally, had a whiskey, sat down and said 'I'm going to have you killed',' he explained.

'I don't want to be told I'm going to be killed. I just sat down out of politeness, but she said to me three times 'I'm going to have you killed'. How can you respond to that?'

He also told the operator that Langley had accused him of violence and rape but he said there were no police records of any such allegations.

It was at this point in the conversation that Langley approached him. Mr Bryant said: 'Hang on a tick, would you like to speak to her? I have got the police on the phone.'

But the phone was then knocked out of his hand and the alleged attack ensued off-camera.

A few seconds later, Mr Bryant could be heard telling the operator 'I have just been stabbed' while people, including his wife, went to his aid.

The court heard that the time between the phone being knocked from his hand and the knife falling to the ground was 24 seconds.

Paramedics tried to save Mr Bryant's life but he was eventually declared dead at the scene just before 6:50pm.

Body worn video footage recorded by police showed Langley in a distressed state during this time, shouting: 'Get away from me, I want to stab him. I killed him. I don't care. I want him dead...I'm just so happy. I hate him so much... I hope he dies.'

A half empty bottle of Bushmills whiskey was later found in a Tesco bag in the front passenger footwell of her Volvo.

Langley, who sustained a small cut to her hand, has admitted a charge of possessing a knife but denied both murder and the alternative offence of manslaughter.

But Ms Ellin said it was the prosecution's case that Langley was guilty of murdering a man who had posed no threat to anyone.

She told the jury of six men and six women: 'The Crown say that the words spoken by the defendant that you have heard and will hear during this trial demonstrate her intentions.

'They evidence what was in her mind at the time.

'She makes it clear time and time again that she wanted Mr Bryant dead. She said it before she stabbed him and she said it afterwards.

'Indeed, after it had happened, she said she was glad he was dead. Those words will be for you to assess but the Crown say they are significant when you consider what her intention was on that day.

'You will also consider how it was that a large kitchen knife from her own kitchen ended up in her hands at the scene... There was no need for her to take such a weapon to a public house in Maidstone.

'You may think that her possession of that knife and her expressed intention to stab or kill him show that she intended to do just that when she set off in her car on September 11 to see him.

'The manner of her blows and the force required to inflict those wounds will also be something you should have regard to when you consider her intentions.'

Referring to Langley's assertions that Mr Bryant was violent and committed rape, Ms Ellin continued: 'The Crown say even if she genuinely believed those allegations, there is no evidence that he was a threat to the defendant or anyone she knew at the time.

'There is no evidence he was behaving in a threatening manner on September 11 or at any stage prior to then.

'On the contrary, as you heard in his 999 call, he was the one under threat.. He was the one who called police and sought their help in relation to a threat she made to him.

'She left his pub and then returned with the knife and deliberately stabbed him.'

Ms Ellin also told the jury that in deciding their verdict, they may want to consider whether Mr Bryant had 'simply become the focal point' for Langley's unhappiness and anger.

'On September 11 she was down, fed up with various members of her family, she had issues with her car and financial problems. She had also been drinking,' Ms Ellin said.

'She was annoyed that her son wanted to play pool at Mr Bryant's pub and, in her mind, it was Mr Bryant who was at fault - he was the focus of her rage.

'So she took the largest kitchen knife from her home and she went to him and killed him. It was impulsive, it was irrational, but it was also deliberate and intentional.

'It is the Crown's case that this defendant intended to kill or at least to cause really serious harm to Mr Bryant. The Crown say she is guilty of murder.'

The trial continues.