Jemma Marshall could have appeared to be a normal mum-of-three with a partner living in a quiet commuter town – but the 37-year-old became a drug addict and killer
A suburban mum-of-three who appeared to live a normal family life saw her world descend into crime as she became a killer.
Jemma Marshall balanced domestic life with looking after her kids, in the small town of Shaw, north of Oldham. Despite this, Marshall managed to play her role at home and in the spread of hard drugs, in the sleep commuter town. After falling into drug addiction, she has now fallen even further. Convicted of manslaughter alongside another man named Jason Wadsworth, she faces a lengthy sentence.
Her victim Martin Shaw, 45, was another casualty of the horror created by class A drugs.
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A vulnerable addict, Shaw was used and abused by those around him, desperate for their next fix. Marshall claimed she had an emotional connection with Shaw, but she acted like a loan shark. She would lend money to the destitute, but expected inflated interest payments on top, according to Manchester Evening News.
When he failed to meet the mum’s demands, Shaw was brutally attacked by both Marshall and Jason Wadsworth, both 37. Wadsworth acted as Marshall’s muscle as she called in her debt. In court, the mum-of-three described how her normal life spiralled down the path of crime and death.
Marshall said she had previously worked for a charity, been employed as a carer for a woman with multiple sclerosis, and volunteered for the British Red Cross. She then returned to her studies, training in accounts, and had her first child aged 17.
The 37-year-old said she had a troubled childhood, and was struggling with processing trauma she’d experienced during that period. When one of her children reached the same age she had been at the time of her trauma, coupled with the passing of her father, her situation supposedly sent her over the edge.
Marshall’s first encounter with crack cocaine was smoking a cigarette which she believed only contained cannabis, but became a vital turning point in her life. She smoked the drug again a few weeks later, and found it to be the antidote to her troubles.
She said: “I’m ashamed to say it was a phenomenal feeling of being able to block out what was going on inside. It’s very, very addictive. I neglected myself and my family. I didn’t care about things I normally care about.”
Marshall said she was able to keep her addiction a secret from her loved ones, saying: “I would never ever take drugs in my family home where my children were. It was a secret to my family. My partner didn’t have the slightest inkling that I was using drugs.”
The mum said her partner often asked if she was cheating, but instead she was spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on hard substances and smoking it in drug den flats across Oldham with other addicts. It was here where she met Martin Shaw, in December 2022. Marshall said: “Martin didn’t have a bad bone in his body. He was a lovely gentle soul.”
At the time of his death, Shaw, 45, was not using, but instead taking a methadone script to try and get off the drugs. In court, very different perspectives of their relationship were put forward. Prosecutors sought to portray Marshall as a loan shark who exploited Shaw.
A housing support worker, who helped Shaw, became concerned about where his money was going. He received about £1,000 a month in benefits, but Shaw said that he was in debt to the tune of £2,000. He declined to reveal who he owed money to. Marshall claimed she looked out for Shaw and would give him lifts and cash handouts.
Another man who was part of this dark underbelly was drug user Jason Wadsworth. Marshall and Wadsworth were driving around Oldham and Rochdale on the hunt for drugs, on September 10, 2023, when they spotted Shaw walking. Marshall claimed she politely offered him a lift home but the prosecution claimed was forcefully blocking him in the road and into the car to enforce a debt.
As Marshall drove around, Shaw proceeded to be brutally attacked. He suffered life threatening injuries in that car, before eventually being dropped off at home. Later in hospital, it was discovered that he had eight pints of his own blood in his abdomen. He’d sustained a cut to the face, fractures to his ribs and a damaged spleen.
Hospital treatment stabilised him, but he ultimately died on November 4, 2023. Marshall denied having anything to do with the attack in the car. She claimed both men were sat in the back and she did not see what was happening because it was dark but prosecutors claimed she had actually joined in and encouraged the attack. Marshall handed herself in to police on September 12.
In his interview, Wadsworth turned on Marshall and told police the pair had been out “looking for drugs” and met Shaw by chance. He said that Marshall said of Shaw: “He owes me £500 him.” Wadsworth said he told Shaw: “Come on pal, if you owe her some money get in the car.” Wadsworth admitted giving Shaw a “backhander”, but claimed “that was all he did”.
Marshall and Wadsworth were found not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter. The mum was granted bail again until her sentencing hearing in about five weeks, in order to prepare herself. Marshall wept as she was told it was likely that she would be jailed. They will be sentenced on December 22.
