8:00AM GMT 26 Mar 20
The Telegraph [Britain]
Delroy Grant, 53, “terrified a whole community” for 17 years by committing hundreds of offences against pensioners including rape, sexual assault and burglary. Grant singled out his victims by looking for signs they were elderly and lived alone.
Dressed in black, wearing a mask or balaclava, with gloves on his hands, he would remove entire window panes, cut telephone lines and remove light bulbs before robbing and molesting his victims in the middle of the night. Yesterday, one of his victims, known only as Miss J for legal reasons, took the witness stand and faced her attacker.
At 5ft 1ins tall, with pure white hair and wire-rimmed spectacles, dressed in a white top and blue jacket, the 85-year-old stood as her police statement was read to the court.
"It is something that I shall never forget completely. It still feels so recent. I feel a huge amount of resentment and wonder how the suspect chose me. I often think to myself 'Why me?' or 'Why any of the other victims?'. I also feel a sense of indignation and anger as I feel that I had done everything reasonable to avoid this sort of thing happening. I have found that time is not a great healer. I don't think that it has got any easier over the last year. I certainly haven't got back my peace of mind."
She then added in person that she failed to understand why Grant had struck, before thanking the judge for the opportunity to speak.
The police operation to find Grant cost an estimated £7million and was the largest hunt for a serial rapist ever conducted in London. However, they had missed an opportunity to arrest him in 1999, which allowed him to strike again over 100 times more.
He was yesterday jailed for life, with a minimum of 27 years before he could be considered for parole.
Judge Peter Rook, sentencing, told Grant he remained a “very dangerous man capable of committing heinous crimes and causing incalculable harm” and warned him he was likely to die in jail.
The judge said: “You targeted elderly victims living alone. Your actions blighted the remaining precious years of their lives. Their homes, where many of them had lived for years, should have been their safest refuge where they could have expected to live their lives undisturbed and at peace. It is hard to imagine the extreme fear that the feel of your gloved hand and the sight of your masked figure looming above them must have been felt by your victims in their beds.”
He also placed Grant on the sex offenders' register for life.
Grant's defence counsel, Courtenay Griffiths QC, admitted that he could offer no mitigation for his client other than to point out that his age meant he would probably spend the rest of his life in jail.
Mr Griffiths added: "These offences were indeed perverse and disgusting and they were also uniquely revolting."
Before the former minicab driver left Woolwich Crown Court, in south London, the judge made these remarks. "Delroy Grant. Your utter depravity knows no bounds. The 18 victims of your offending were all elderly. In respect of nine of them, not only did you break into their homes in the middle of the night, that invasion being a highly traumatic experience for them in itself, but you then proceeded to subject them to humiliating and degrading sexual attacks.
Your offending spanned a period of 17 years. Five south London boroughs were affected by your offending. Over 17 years you have terrified a whole community. As your counsel accepted, thousands of people in south London have been living in fear that they might be your next victim.
It also led to an enormous drain on police resources as the years went by and you evaded arrest. Your offending led to the largest hunt for a serial rapist ever conducted in London.
This series of offences have multiple aggravating features. Your offending falls in a category of its own, way above anything envisaged in the definitive sentencing guidelines.
You targeted elderly victims living alone. Your actions blighted the remaining years of their lives. Their homes, where many of them had lived for years, should have been their safest refuge, where they could expect to live their lives undisturbed and at peace. You chose to invade their homes when they were in bed at night.
It is hard to imagine the extreme fear that the feel of your gloved hand and the sight of your masked figure looming above them must have been felt by your victims in their beds. Those who you raped or attempted to rape were all over 80. Many of your victims were in poor health.
Since in every case but one, your elderly victims lived on their own, I can only conclude that these offences were well-planned and you targeted victims. Singling out your victims must have involved considerable planning, as you chose the most vulnerable of people.
In the middle of the night, you would wake your victims who would be sleeping in their own beds by placing a gloved hand over their mouths to stop them screaming. You would shine your torch into their terrified eyes. You would search their homes and steal their money. I am not going to catalogue in detail the trail of distress, fear and misery you have left behind you.
There can be only one sentence and that is life imprisonment. I have no doubt that these offences are of such seriousness that a life sentence is appropriate to reflect the public abhorrence at your offending. You are a very dangerous man capable of committing heinous crimes and causing incalculable harm to people. It will be a matter for the Parole Board whether you ever be released. It may be that you will never be released.
Your offending is in a league of its own. I must look at the totality of your offending. I bear in mind that you are now 53. If this was a determinate sentence, a total sentence of 54 years would be appropriate. This means the minimum term will be one of 27 years, less the time you have spent in custody. I am told that is one year and 129 days. That makes the total minimum sentence 25 years, 236 days. I stress that is the minimum term you must serve.
It will follow automatically that you will be placed on the Sexual Offences Register for life.
Showing posts with label Britain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Britain. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Former British soldier sentenced to 16 to life for bombing of wife's car
A former British soldier was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for at least 16 years at Maidstone crown court Friday, February 18. 33 year old Nicholas Fabian of Vigo, Kent, England was convicted for planting a hand grenade underneath his wife Victoria's car. The hand grenade was stolen from training exercises and was rigged to go off when the victim reversed out of her driveway on March 5, 2010.
The victim suffered burns and shrapnel injuries, and was six months pregnant with her attacker's son, named Freddie. During the attack, Fabian, driving in another car with his four year old son Harry ripped off his shirt to use as a tourniquet. Police suspected Fabian from the beginning, but charges were not filed until they found the green and yellow paint that was found on the grenade and the fishing line used to booby trap the car. Fabian's official charges were attempted murder and causing an explosion with intent to endanger life.
Andrew Patience, QC castigated Fabian before formally pronouncing sentence. "What you did in causing that explosion, with the consequences which flowed from it on March 5 last year, was wicked beyond belief. You conceived a plan to rid yourself of your wife which demonstrated low cunning in its planning and preparation, and utter heartlessness and chilling ruthlessness in its execution...You are an evil man who was prepared to destroy at least one human life in order to achieve your own selfish ends. Not only are you evil but you present a danger to the general public."
Patience said that "your wife was not to know, even when you were sat together on March 4, that the plans for your life together meant nothing to you and you were practising upon her the cruelest of deceptions."
The motive behind the attack was for Fabian to rid himself of his wife and make a life with his mistress Jackie Phillips. The 33 year old Phillips told authorities Fabian promised to leave his wife for her, but Fabian himself said that he felt "lust, infatuation and obsession," but not love for Phillips. Phillips was not the only person who Fabian has had dalliances with.
Since his conviction [Thursday, February 17], it has since been revealed that as well as cheating on his wife, attempted killer Fabian had previously worked as a £50-a-time male prostitute and even starred in a gay porn movie while still a soldier in Aldershot.
Known as ‘Squaddie Nick’, he catered to the sexual needs of older men with an Army uniform fetish. One man, who had a relationship with Fabian after meeting him on a train, said: 'He came on to me strongly and we had sex in the train toilet. 'I dropped him off at his married Army quarters afterwards in my car but that night he was knocking on my door again. He was having affairs with a string of women and wanted gay sex too,' he told The Sun.
At the time [in 2004]he was living with a former partner, Louise Sands, the mother of two of his children. When asked after the trial whether she was aware of her ex’s secret double life, Miss Sands, 30, said: ‘What? Nick? Gay? My head is fried.’
He had spent ten years in The Princess of Wales Royal Regiment and during his time with them he was investigated for ‘misconduct issues’ which saw him demoted from lance corporal to private. He was also alleged to have stolen from his fellow soldiers.
After leaving the Army in 2004 he had found it difficult to adjust to civilian life and claimed he was happy when he was called up to serve as he missed ‘the thrill of being a soldier’, the court heard.
On the day of the attack in March last year Mrs Fabian had planned to take Charlie and Harry, her four-year-old son with Fabian, to get a haircut.
Afterwards all four were due to have a family meal at a Harvester restaurant.
Alastair Dickson from the Kent Crown Prosecution Service, said the affair with Phillips was not the only motive behing the attack on his wife. "Clearly not everyone who has affairs goes on to attempt to kill his wife in such a way...It has something to do with the fact that he was a fantasist and an attention-seeker but I don’t think anyone will ever know the true motive in addition to the Jackie Phillips motive behind this offence."
Dickson praised the victim for facing her attacker in open court instead of from behind a screen. "Victoria Fabian, throughout this terrible ordeal, has shown an enormous degree of bravery and strength. That's reflected in the way she gave her evidence to the court. She was brave enough to make the decision that she didn't want to give evidence from behind a screen, which was available to her. What she wanted to do was face Nicholas Fabian in court and for him to see exactly what he had done to her, and that shows remarkable bravery."
The victim suffered burns and shrapnel injuries, and was six months pregnant with her attacker's son, named Freddie. During the attack, Fabian, driving in another car with his four year old son Harry ripped off his shirt to use as a tourniquet. Police suspected Fabian from the beginning, but charges were not filed until they found the green and yellow paint that was found on the grenade and the fishing line used to booby trap the car. Fabian's official charges were attempted murder and causing an explosion with intent to endanger life.
Andrew Patience, QC castigated Fabian before formally pronouncing sentence. "What you did in causing that explosion, with the consequences which flowed from it on March 5 last year, was wicked beyond belief. You conceived a plan to rid yourself of your wife which demonstrated low cunning in its planning and preparation, and utter heartlessness and chilling ruthlessness in its execution...You are an evil man who was prepared to destroy at least one human life in order to achieve your own selfish ends. Not only are you evil but you present a danger to the general public."
Patience said that "your wife was not to know, even when you were sat together on March 4, that the plans for your life together meant nothing to you and you were practising upon her the cruelest of deceptions."
The motive behind the attack was for Fabian to rid himself of his wife and make a life with his mistress Jackie Phillips. The 33 year old Phillips told authorities Fabian promised to leave his wife for her, but Fabian himself said that he felt "lust, infatuation and obsession," but not love for Phillips. Phillips was not the only person who Fabian has had dalliances with.
Since his conviction [Thursday, February 17], it has since been revealed that as well as cheating on his wife, attempted killer Fabian had previously worked as a £50-a-time male prostitute and even starred in a gay porn movie while still a soldier in Aldershot.
Known as ‘Squaddie Nick’, he catered to the sexual needs of older men with an Army uniform fetish. One man, who had a relationship with Fabian after meeting him on a train, said: 'He came on to me strongly and we had sex in the train toilet. 'I dropped him off at his married Army quarters afterwards in my car but that night he was knocking on my door again. He was having affairs with a string of women and wanted gay sex too,' he told The Sun.
At the time [in 2004]he was living with a former partner, Louise Sands, the mother of two of his children. When asked after the trial whether she was aware of her ex’s secret double life, Miss Sands, 30, said: ‘What? Nick? Gay? My head is fried.’
He had spent ten years in The Princess of Wales Royal Regiment and during his time with them he was investigated for ‘misconduct issues’ which saw him demoted from lance corporal to private. He was also alleged to have stolen from his fellow soldiers.
After leaving the Army in 2004 he had found it difficult to adjust to civilian life and claimed he was happy when he was called up to serve as he missed ‘the thrill of being a soldier’, the court heard.
On the day of the attack in March last year Mrs Fabian had planned to take Charlie and Harry, her four-year-old son with Fabian, to get a haircut.
Afterwards all four were due to have a family meal at a Harvester restaurant.
Alastair Dickson from the Kent Crown Prosecution Service, said the affair with Phillips was not the only motive behing the attack on his wife. "Clearly not everyone who has affairs goes on to attempt to kill his wife in such a way...It has something to do with the fact that he was a fantasist and an attention-seeker but I don’t think anyone will ever know the true motive in addition to the Jackie Phillips motive behind this offence."
Dickson praised the victim for facing her attacker in open court instead of from behind a screen. "Victoria Fabian, throughout this terrible ordeal, has shown an enormous degree of bravery and strength. That's reflected in the way she gave her evidence to the court. She was brave enough to make the decision that she didn't want to give evidence from behind a screen, which was available to her. What she wanted to do was face Nicholas Fabian in court and for him to see exactly what he had done to her, and that shows remarkable bravery."
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Jealous northern England man sentenced to life without parole for at least 30 years for murder of nurse
By Peter Magill [Burnley chief reporter]
FORMER ambulance technician who murdered his ex-girlfriend while on bail for her rape was jailed for a minimum of 30 years today. Ambulance technician and bouncer Jonathan Vass, 30, launched a frenzied knife attack on nurse and mother-of-one Jane Clough, 26, as she arrived for work at Blackpool Victoria Hospital in July. She was admitted to the hospital’s accident and emergency unit where she worked as colleagues tried in vain to save her.
Vass, described as “manipulative and controlling”, was freed to kill after being given bail while awaiting trial over allegations that he had repeatedly raped her. The rape charges were dropped after the murder. John and Penny Clough, her parents, were angered by both decisions - first to free him and then to let the rape charges lie on file. They sat in the public gallery just yards from Vass in the dock as he was jailed for life at Preston Crown Court after pleading guilty to murder at an earlier hearing.
Judge Anthony Russell QC handed down the mandatory life sentence before telling Vass he will serve a minimum of 30 years before he can be considered for release. Vass wept uncontrollably, covering his face his hands as he was told he would only be eligible for parole in 2040.
The victim’s parents and family wept and hugged each other as the court heard for the first time that, after stabbing and slashing Miss Clough with a 3in (7.6cm) blade, he walked away momentarily, then went back seconds later to finish her off.
”As she lay bleeding you walked away but then returned and slowly, deliberately and cold-bloodedly slit her throat,” Judge Russell said as he passed sentence. ”It is difficult to imagine a more horrific crime than this murder. Furthermore it was a crime motivated by real hatred and revenge. This was a deliberate, brutal and callous murder for which you have shown no remorse and no care for your own daughter. Jane Clough was a nurse who devoted her life to the care of others. She had the misfortune to become involved with you. She bore your child and then you murdered her, leaving your infant child without a mother and with the prospect of growing up to learn one day that her father murdered her mother.”
The court heard that Miss Clough kept a diary, detailing her abuse and fears of Vass and what he might do.
She and her family, who held a protest outside court before the case began this morning, were “rocked and devastated” when he was bailed on the rape charges, leaving Miss Clough “extremely concerned for her safety”. She left home to live with her parents and recorded in her diary that she was worried “Johnny was going to do something stupid”.
He had been relying on her to drop the charges.
Another entry read of fears he would “get his revenge”, adding: “What’s he going to do?”
Dennis Watson QC, prosecuting, said it was clear the motive for the murder was to prevent Miss Clough giving evidence. Mr Watson said the couple met while both working at the hospital but their relationship was troubled because of Vass.
”He was a jealous man who wished to dominate and have complete control over Jane despite the fact that, unknown to her, he was carrying on a relationship with two other women at the same time,” Mr Watson told the court. By early 2009 Miss Clough was pregnant but Vass had become controlling and “sexually demanding”.
In November that year she plucked up courage to report him to police, telling officers of the months of physical and sexual abuse and the repeated rapes even when she was seven months pregnant.
Text messages between the pair were read out.
Miss Clough sent him a message saying: “You have hurt, raped and reduced me to tears on countless occasions... and you want to get engaged and have more kids? Why?” He replied: “We are staying together regardless of our problems.” A second text read: “Why should you come back? To push me about, grab me, rip my clothes off, make me cry...” Another said: “You physically and sexually abuse me. You threatened to kill me the other night.”
Vass’s replies read: “Please can I come home... best behaviour promise”, and “I do love you Janey. Either get pregnant or engaged. Your choice.”
Vass was charged with nine rapes and assault in November 2009 and told a work colleague, an ex-boyfriend of Miss Clough, if he was found guilty he would kill her - but the threat was dismissed as “bravado”. When it became clear she was prepared to give evidence in court Vass decided to take “retribution”, the court heard.
FORMER ambulance technician who murdered his ex-girlfriend while on bail for her rape was jailed for a minimum of 30 years today. Ambulance technician and bouncer Jonathan Vass, 30, launched a frenzied knife attack on nurse and mother-of-one Jane Clough, 26, as she arrived for work at Blackpool Victoria Hospital in July. She was admitted to the hospital’s accident and emergency unit where she worked as colleagues tried in vain to save her.
Vass, described as “manipulative and controlling”, was freed to kill after being given bail while awaiting trial over allegations that he had repeatedly raped her. The rape charges were dropped after the murder. John and Penny Clough, her parents, were angered by both decisions - first to free him and then to let the rape charges lie on file. They sat in the public gallery just yards from Vass in the dock as he was jailed for life at Preston Crown Court after pleading guilty to murder at an earlier hearing.
Judge Anthony Russell QC handed down the mandatory life sentence before telling Vass he will serve a minimum of 30 years before he can be considered for release. Vass wept uncontrollably, covering his face his hands as he was told he would only be eligible for parole in 2040.
The victim’s parents and family wept and hugged each other as the court heard for the first time that, after stabbing and slashing Miss Clough with a 3in (7.6cm) blade, he walked away momentarily, then went back seconds later to finish her off.
”As she lay bleeding you walked away but then returned and slowly, deliberately and cold-bloodedly slit her throat,” Judge Russell said as he passed sentence. ”It is difficult to imagine a more horrific crime than this murder. Furthermore it was a crime motivated by real hatred and revenge. This was a deliberate, brutal and callous murder for which you have shown no remorse and no care for your own daughter. Jane Clough was a nurse who devoted her life to the care of others. She had the misfortune to become involved with you. She bore your child and then you murdered her, leaving your infant child without a mother and with the prospect of growing up to learn one day that her father murdered her mother.”
The court heard that Miss Clough kept a diary, detailing her abuse and fears of Vass and what he might do.
She and her family, who held a protest outside court before the case began this morning, were “rocked and devastated” when he was bailed on the rape charges, leaving Miss Clough “extremely concerned for her safety”. She left home to live with her parents and recorded in her diary that she was worried “Johnny was going to do something stupid”.
He had been relying on her to drop the charges.
Another entry read of fears he would “get his revenge”, adding: “What’s he going to do?”
Dennis Watson QC, prosecuting, said it was clear the motive for the murder was to prevent Miss Clough giving evidence. Mr Watson said the couple met while both working at the hospital but their relationship was troubled because of Vass.
”He was a jealous man who wished to dominate and have complete control over Jane despite the fact that, unknown to her, he was carrying on a relationship with two other women at the same time,” Mr Watson told the court. By early 2009 Miss Clough was pregnant but Vass had become controlling and “sexually demanding”.
In November that year she plucked up courage to report him to police, telling officers of the months of physical and sexual abuse and the repeated rapes even when she was seven months pregnant.
Text messages between the pair were read out.
Miss Clough sent him a message saying: “You have hurt, raped and reduced me to tears on countless occasions... and you want to get engaged and have more kids? Why?” He replied: “We are staying together regardless of our problems.” A second text read: “Why should you come back? To push me about, grab me, rip my clothes off, make me cry...” Another said: “You physically and sexually abuse me. You threatened to kill me the other night.”
Vass’s replies read: “Please can I come home... best behaviour promise”, and “I do love you Janey. Either get pregnant or engaged. Your choice.”
Vass was charged with nine rapes and assault in November 2009 and told a work colleague, an ex-boyfriend of Miss Clough, if he was found guilty he would kill her - but the threat was dismissed as “bravado”. When it became clear she was prepared to give evidence in court Vass decided to take “retribution”, the court heard.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
British man receives 15 to life for stabbing "girlfriend" during sex
A man stabbed his girlfriend to death after she accidentally blurted out the name of another man as they made love. Gary Higgs, 44, flew into a rage when his girlfriend suddenly cried out: 'Chris!'. He stormed downstairs, grabbed a chef's knife and stabbed Joanne Kitchen once in the back and once in the chest.
As she was dying from her wounds, he throttled the 41-year-old to death with the electrical flex of their alarm clock. He later told police: 'I asked her why she said "Chris", but she said she must have been thinking about her daughter's boyfriend Chris.' Manchester Crown Court heard Chris had been at the house the day before.
But Higgs told officers: 'It didn't make any sense to me and I was getting more angry. Why was she thinking about her daughter's boyfriend when we were having sex?
'I couldn't get things out of my mind. I didn't know exactly what I was thinking. I picked the knife up and carried it upstairs to the bedroom. I don't remember thinking I wanted to harm Jo at this time.I was just so mad.' Higgs also said that after he stabbed her, Miss Kitchen told him: 'You've killed me.'
Higgs, who admitted murder, was yesterday jailed for life and told he must serve a minimum of 15 years.
The court heard the couple ditched their long-term partners and moved in together after talking on Facebook.
Paul Reid, QC, prosecuting, said they struggled financially and depended on Miss Kitchen's wage as a security officer at a college in Bury. Early one morning in April this year a woman waiting at a bus stop heard 'argumentative screams' from a woman coming from the couple's home and another witness saw Higgs standing bare - chested at the window.
The alarm was raised when Miss Kitchen failed to turn up for work and her daughters could not contact their mother by phone or text. The landlord of the house in Radcliffe, near Bury, let the two women in and he found her body in the upstairs room.
Sentencing Higgs, Judge Andrew Gilbart, QC, said the relationship had been overcome by financial tensions and arguments. He said: "Those tensions can lead to mistrust and sexual jealousy. It seems you were overcome by your view that she could still be interested sexually in others and be as readily welcoming to conduct an affair with others as she had been with you. There is no evidence of that whatsoever, but even if there were, it cannot justify what you did. In my judgment, this is a case of an unreasonably possessive man killing his lover in a rage."
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Southport, England man gets 25 to life for rape-slaying of estranged wife
A sex obsessed husband was sentenced to life with a minimum sentence of 25 years imprisonment for raping then strangling his wife. 32 year old Brent Mott was sentenced by Judge Henry Globe, QC in a Liverpool, England courtroom August 11, 2010 for the murder of his 35 year old wife Kate. Mott was convicted by a 9 man, 3 woman jury in Liverpool Crown Court after a 3 week trial and 3 1/2 hours of deliberation.
Judge Globe said, “You murdered her because you couldn't bear to lose her. You murdered her because you couldn't bear to think of her with anyone else. In your own words: ‘The pain of losing her to another bloke was killing you.’ And you murdered her for sex. It was done in circumstances of your heightened sexual frustration borne out of your own twisted obsession towards sex.”
Judge Globe also detailed the “considerable mental suffering” Mrs Mott had endured at the hands of her husband, who told everyone about their lack of physical relationship after she became pregnant with their second child.
After separating in 2009, Mott, who worked alongside his wife at Southport hospital, insisted on moving back into the family home [in Southport, England]. But, just weeks later, in November, 2009, Mrs Mott got a court order banning her husband from entering a make-shift bedroom she had set up in their Everard Road home and harassing her with his sexual behaviour.
But Judge Globe said the injunction “held no fear” for Mott.
On January 20, 2009, Mott came "home" from the pub and raped, then murdered his victim. Mott dressed his wife's nude body, and drove her body to a field where he tried to stage the murder as an accident by burning his car in a Scarisbrick, England field. He also sent texts to his victim's mother and feigned worry for her safety by calling the police, but he was caught 4 months later.
Kate Mott finalized their divorce just hours before her slaying, and gave her husband 2 weeks to leave their house.
Judge Globe said about the victim,
“This was an intelligent, mature woman who had already arranged for the locks to be changed upon your imminent departure, so desperate was she to see you leave. She wouldn't have willingly allowed you to have sexual intercourse with her and risk becoming pregnant in the course of that intercourse.
You came home determined to have sexual intercourse with Kate, come what may. It is inconceivable that she would have suggested having, and would actually have had consensual sex with you in these circumstances. You raped her at or around the time of killing her.”
Judge Globe said, “You murdered her because you couldn't bear to lose her. You murdered her because you couldn't bear to think of her with anyone else. In your own words: ‘The pain of losing her to another bloke was killing you.’ And you murdered her for sex. It was done in circumstances of your heightened sexual frustration borne out of your own twisted obsession towards sex.”
Judge Globe also detailed the “considerable mental suffering” Mrs Mott had endured at the hands of her husband, who told everyone about their lack of physical relationship after she became pregnant with their second child.
After separating in 2009, Mott, who worked alongside his wife at Southport hospital, insisted on moving back into the family home [in Southport, England]. But, just weeks later, in November, 2009, Mrs Mott got a court order banning her husband from entering a make-shift bedroom she had set up in their Everard Road home and harassing her with his sexual behaviour.
But Judge Globe said the injunction “held no fear” for Mott.
On January 20, 2009, Mott came "home" from the pub and raped, then murdered his victim. Mott dressed his wife's nude body, and drove her body to a field where he tried to stage the murder as an accident by burning his car in a Scarisbrick, England field. He also sent texts to his victim's mother and feigned worry for her safety by calling the police, but he was caught 4 months later.
Kate Mott finalized their divorce just hours before her slaying, and gave her husband 2 weeks to leave their house.
Judge Globe said about the victim,
“This was an intelligent, mature woman who had already arranged for the locks to be changed upon your imminent departure, so desperate was she to see you leave. She wouldn't have willingly allowed you to have sexual intercourse with her and risk becoming pregnant in the course of that intercourse.
You came home determined to have sexual intercourse with Kate, come what may. It is inconceivable that she would have suggested having, and would actually have had consensual sex with you in these circumstances. You raped her at or around the time of killing her.”
Thursday, July 29, 2010
"Guru" who groomed, raped young women sentenced to 10 years
The Australian
A MAN who claimed to be an internationally revered spiritual guru in order to rape and sexually assault potentially hundreds of women has been jailed for ten years by a British judge.
London's Wood Green Crown Court was told [July 26, 2010] that Michael Lyons, 52, known as Mohan Singh, drugged and sexually assaulted women he had "groomed" with lies that he was a spiritual leader who had treated the Queen and counted the Dalai Lama and Hollywood actor Steven Seagal among his friends.
Jamaican-born Lyons, who was raised in Manchester, northern England, was convicted on one count of rape and another of sexual assault by penetration, and placed on the sex offenders register for life as police were investigating further claims against him.
The court was told Lyons also regularly extracted hundreds of pounds from each of his 40 female followers, using the money to buy cars and apartments in London, Los Angeles and Miami, all the while claiming that he was funding lamas to teach in the U.K.
In 2002 Lyons raped one victim in his London flat after she went there after a work colleague praised Lyons as a "spiritual, maybe psychic person."
He was also convicted of assaulting a 43-year-old teacher who traveled to London to see him for chiropractic treatment on the recommendation of her female lodger, one of Lyons' followers. Philip Katz, QC, for the prosecution, said Lyons surrounded himself with young and attractive women but was a "sexual predator masquerading as a guru and a healer".
Detective Sergeant Nick Giles, who led the investigation, told the court Lyons used "deprivation, psychological harassment as well as group social pressure" to entice the unsuspecting women into the cult and that he manipulated his female followers to lure other women.
"He has a spider’s web of women who will go out and get other women and tell them Michael Lyons will be a positive influence in their life," he said."He sexually assaulted victims during this process," he added. "This coercive persuasion forced people to change their beliefs, ideas, attitudes and behaviors, using psychological pressure, undue influence, threats, anxiety and intimidation."
As well as U.K. victims who gave evidence, others flew from New Zealand and the U.S., where he is wanted by the FBI on rape allegations. His powerful cult is also believed to span France and India.
Some of his followers, who had also raised £300,000 ($513,000) bail and £500,000 ($855,000) for his defense, attended every day of the three month trial, at which Lyons appeared wearing burgundy robes. Giles said that witnesses gave alibis to Lyons and would say anything in his support. Lyons, who has been accused of raping women since 1998, was finally caught after an international joint operation between Scotland Yard and the FBI.
Sentencing, Judge Nicholas Browne, QC, said: "Under the guise of giving them alternative therapeutic treatment when their guard was low you took advantage of them by sexually abusing them. You used treatment as a precursor to sexual abuse and you were in a position of trust."
A MAN who claimed to be an internationally revered spiritual guru in order to rape and sexually assault potentially hundreds of women has been jailed for ten years by a British judge.
London's Wood Green Crown Court was told [July 26, 2010] that Michael Lyons, 52, known as Mohan Singh, drugged and sexually assaulted women he had "groomed" with lies that he was a spiritual leader who had treated the Queen and counted the Dalai Lama and Hollywood actor Steven Seagal among his friends.
Jamaican-born Lyons, who was raised in Manchester, northern England, was convicted on one count of rape and another of sexual assault by penetration, and placed on the sex offenders register for life as police were investigating further claims against him.
The court was told Lyons also regularly extracted hundreds of pounds from each of his 40 female followers, using the money to buy cars and apartments in London, Los Angeles and Miami, all the while claiming that he was funding lamas to teach in the U.K.
In 2002 Lyons raped one victim in his London flat after she went there after a work colleague praised Lyons as a "spiritual, maybe psychic person."
He was also convicted of assaulting a 43-year-old teacher who traveled to London to see him for chiropractic treatment on the recommendation of her female lodger, one of Lyons' followers. Philip Katz, QC, for the prosecution, said Lyons surrounded himself with young and attractive women but was a "sexual predator masquerading as a guru and a healer".
Detective Sergeant Nick Giles, who led the investigation, told the court Lyons used "deprivation, psychological harassment as well as group social pressure" to entice the unsuspecting women into the cult and that he manipulated his female followers to lure other women.
"He has a spider’s web of women who will go out and get other women and tell them Michael Lyons will be a positive influence in their life," he said."He sexually assaulted victims during this process," he added. "This coercive persuasion forced people to change their beliefs, ideas, attitudes and behaviors, using psychological pressure, undue influence, threats, anxiety and intimidation."
As well as U.K. victims who gave evidence, others flew from New Zealand and the U.S., where he is wanted by the FBI on rape allegations. His powerful cult is also believed to span France and India.
Some of his followers, who had also raised £300,000 ($513,000) bail and £500,000 ($855,000) for his defense, attended every day of the three month trial, at which Lyons appeared wearing burgundy robes. Giles said that witnesses gave alibis to Lyons and would say anything in his support. Lyons, who has been accused of raping women since 1998, was finally caught after an international joint operation between Scotland Yard and the FBI.
Sentencing, Judge Nicholas Browne, QC, said: "Under the guise of giving them alternative therapeutic treatment when their guard was low you took advantage of them by sexually abusing them. You used treatment as a precursor to sexual abuse and you were in a position of trust."
Monday, July 19, 2010
British serial killer "Yorkshire Ripper" sentenced to life without parole - a rarity in UK
Published Date: 16 July 2010 [Yorkshire Post]
By Olwen Dudgeon Legal Correspondent
YORKSHIRE Ripper Peter Sutcliffe will spend the rest of his life behind bars, a judge has ruled. The serial killer, now known as Peter Coonan, must serve a "whole life" tariff, Mr Justice Mitting announced yesterday at the High Court in London. The judge said he had no doubt that was the appropriate term and added: "This was a campaign of murder which terrorised the population of a large part of Yorkshire for several years.
"The only explanation for it, on the jury's verdict, was anger, hatred and obsession. Apart from a terrorist outrage it is difficult to conceive of circumstances in which one man could account for so many victims. Those circumstances alone make it appropriate to set a whole life term."
His ruling was widely welcomed among the victims' families. Richard McCann, whose mother Wilma was the first murdered during Sutcliffe's reign of terror, said his overwhelming feeling was one of relief. "I just hope he does not go and appeal it and keep this all going." Sutcliffe, now 64, from Bradford, was convicted at the Old Bailey in 1981, receiving 20 life sentences for the murder of 13 women and the attempted murder of seven more.
He was transferred to Broadmoor top-security psychiatric hospital three years later suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. Mr Justice Mitting said he did not accept any reduction from a whole life term was appropriate for "exceptional progress" by Sutcliffe in hospital. He said he believed it was more likely than not that had a Home Secretary set a tariff for Sutcliffe it would have been a whole life.
"Only Rosemary West and Dennis Neilsen approach the number of victims murdered."
By Olwen Dudgeon Legal Correspondent
YORKSHIRE Ripper Peter Sutcliffe will spend the rest of his life behind bars, a judge has ruled. The serial killer, now known as Peter Coonan, must serve a "whole life" tariff, Mr Justice Mitting announced yesterday at the High Court in London. The judge said he had no doubt that was the appropriate term and added: "This was a campaign of murder which terrorised the population of a large part of Yorkshire for several years.
"The only explanation for it, on the jury's verdict, was anger, hatred and obsession. Apart from a terrorist outrage it is difficult to conceive of circumstances in which one man could account for so many victims. Those circumstances alone make it appropriate to set a whole life term."
His ruling was widely welcomed among the victims' families. Richard McCann, whose mother Wilma was the first murdered during Sutcliffe's reign of terror, said his overwhelming feeling was one of relief. "I just hope he does not go and appeal it and keep this all going." Sutcliffe, now 64, from Bradford, was convicted at the Old Bailey in 1981, receiving 20 life sentences for the murder of 13 women and the attempted murder of seven more.
He was transferred to Broadmoor top-security psychiatric hospital three years later suffering from paranoid schizophrenia. Mr Justice Mitting said he did not accept any reduction from a whole life term was appropriate for "exceptional progress" by Sutcliffe in hospital. He said he believed it was more likely than not that had a Home Secretary set a tariff for Sutcliffe it would have been a whole life.
"Only Rosemary West and Dennis Neilsen approach the number of victims murdered."
Monday, June 28, 2010
Man kills woman he wed twice over other husband - had 2nd wife of own
Clair Fullarton, Kilmarnock Standard
A KILMARNOCK man has been jailed for life for murdering the woman he had married for the second time. George Clark, 53, was ordered to spend at least 14 years for what temporary judge Michael O'Grady QC described as the ‘cowardly and brutal’ murder of his wife Sharlene. The High Court in Glasgow heard that love triangle killer Clark married his victim Sharlene twice and moved with her into the home he shared with his second wife Helen, 58.
Judge O'Grady told Clark: “You have taken the life of your own wife. A woman who had a lot to live for.”
The High Court in Glasgow heard that Clark told a social worker that she had it coming to her saying: “I would have done it sooner or later.”
Clark murdered 44-year-old Sharlene by knifing her three times on the chest and once on the neck, a day after sending a chilling text message saying he was going to kill her. As Sharlene lay dying Clark dialled 999 and told an operator: “I've just stabbed my wife. Would you please get an ambulance. She's not breathing, hurry up.” When paramedics arrived on the scene they found Clark with both hands covered in blood and Sharlene lying dead on the living room floor.
Prosecutor Alastair Carmichael revealed that Clark has previous convictions for assault, breach of the peace and road traffic offences.
The couple who were first married 27 years earlier fell in love again after meeting by chance when Clark returned to Kilmarnock. Within seven months on March 11, 2009, they had married for a second time on the anniversary of their first wedding. They were the last couple to be married in the old registrar’s office in Kilmarnock town centre.
At first the couple were besotted with each other and even got tattoos to show their love for one another. Sharlene had the word George tattooed on her back and Clark had Sharlene tattooed on his body. But, Clark was jealous of Sharlene's friendship with former love Hayden McGonigale, 42, and she feared Clark was going to return to his second wife Helen.
Clark said he loved his wife and added: “I wouldn't have hurt Sharlene in a million years”, claimed he had killed her in self-defence after she had launched a murderous attack on him with a kitchen knife. He admitted picking up a double-edged hunter's knife and stabbing her, but claimed he was fighting for his life.
But the jury didn't believe his story and convicted him of murdering 44-year-old Sharlene, a mum of four and a gran of one, at 25 Lindsay Drive on October 12, last year.
A KILMARNOCK man has been jailed for life for murdering the woman he had married for the second time. George Clark, 53, was ordered to spend at least 14 years for what temporary judge Michael O'Grady QC described as the ‘cowardly and brutal’ murder of his wife Sharlene. The High Court in Glasgow heard that love triangle killer Clark married his victim Sharlene twice and moved with her into the home he shared with his second wife Helen, 58.
Judge O'Grady told Clark: “You have taken the life of your own wife. A woman who had a lot to live for.”
The High Court in Glasgow heard that Clark told a social worker that she had it coming to her saying: “I would have done it sooner or later.”
Clark murdered 44-year-old Sharlene by knifing her three times on the chest and once on the neck, a day after sending a chilling text message saying he was going to kill her. As Sharlene lay dying Clark dialled 999 and told an operator: “I've just stabbed my wife. Would you please get an ambulance. She's not breathing, hurry up.” When paramedics arrived on the scene they found Clark with both hands covered in blood and Sharlene lying dead on the living room floor.
Prosecutor Alastair Carmichael revealed that Clark has previous convictions for assault, breach of the peace and road traffic offences.
The couple who were first married 27 years earlier fell in love again after meeting by chance when Clark returned to Kilmarnock. Within seven months on March 11, 2009, they had married for a second time on the anniversary of their first wedding. They were the last couple to be married in the old registrar’s office in Kilmarnock town centre.
At first the couple were besotted with each other and even got tattoos to show their love for one another. Sharlene had the word George tattooed on her back and Clark had Sharlene tattooed on his body. But, Clark was jealous of Sharlene's friendship with former love Hayden McGonigale, 42, and she feared Clark was going to return to his second wife Helen.
Clark said he loved his wife and added: “I wouldn't have hurt Sharlene in a million years”, claimed he had killed her in self-defence after she had launched a murderous attack on him with a kitchen knife. He admitted picking up a double-edged hunter's knife and stabbing her, but claimed he was fighting for his life.
But the jury didn't believe his story and convicted him of murdering 44-year-old Sharlene, a mum of four and a gran of one, at 25 Lindsay Drive on October 12, last year.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
"Divorce party" murderer of ex-wife sentenced to life without parole for at least 10 years
Andy Passant and Naomi Corrigan, Evening Gazette
Brian Jones was sentenced to a minimum of 10 years in prison for butchering 34-year-old mum-of-two Katrina Jones at the former marital home in Church Close, Marske. Katrina was knifed 12 times after arguing with her ex-husband on November 27 last year. She had been decking out the house with banners and balloons to celebrate the end of their 10-year marriage.
Yesterday there were dramatic scenes at Teesside Crown Court as Jones was found guilty of murdering Katrina at the end of a two-week trial. Jones, 63, of Thrushwood Crescent, Marske, collapsed in the dock, at which point the judge called an adjournment while the defendant received attention.
The former doorman and bodybuilder, had denied murder, raising the defences of provocation and diminished responsibility.But after deliberating for more than seven hours the jury of six men and six women unanimously found him guilty of murder.
The trial judge, the Recorder of Middlesbrough Judge Peter Fox QC, told Jones: “The jury has found you guilty of murder. I am bound therefore to pass, as I now do, a sentence of life imprisonment.” There were gasps from the public gallery and members of Jones’ family wept.
Struggling to be heard above the sound of crying, the judge said he was satisfied Jones had gone to get the knife from a neighbour’s house before returning and stabbing Katrina.
“Your intention, I am clear, was to kill her,” he said. The judge said he accepted Jones had been provoked, but not to the degree needed for a legal defence. He also took into account his age, his physical health and the fact that he had no previous convictions for violence.
But he told Jones, who will be 64 later this year, he would have to serve a minimum of 10 years before being considered for parole. A tearful Jones tried unsuccessfully to address the judge before being led from the dock. Family members shouted out that they loved him.
Members of Katrina’s family, who remained dignified and calm during and after the trial, had been in court to hear the verdict. Afterwards Katrina’s mum Jean Evans paid an emotional tribute to her daughter outside court. In a statement, Mrs Evans said Katrina “was my baby and I miss her with all my heart”.
As the family waited nearby while Detective Sergeant Colin Helyer, relatives of Jones came out of the court and several hurled abuse. Gestures were made and one shouted: “He’ll be out in six and a half.”
The court heard how the couple had been married for 10 years.
In February 2009, Jones found out his wife was seeing someone else when he discovered a Valentine’s card.
Katrina filed for divorce although Jones was desperate to save their marriage. Jones said they still regularly had sex until about July last year and left his head “screwed up”.
He ended up moving to a flat in Thrushwood Crescent, Marske. But he spent much of the time staying with his former neighbour next door to Katrina. Police were called a number of times by Katrina, who was keeping a diary of the harassment she was suffering at the hands of Jones. The trial had heard how he had gone round to confront Katrina as she prepared to hold a divorce party.
He snapped after seeing the house had been decorated with banners, balloons and streamers. One poster read: “Katrina’s divorce party. Free at last.” There was also a photo of Jones with the message “Pin the tail on the ex”, the jury heard. Jones argued with Katrina and then went next door to get a knife before returning and repeatedly stabbing her.
He then dialled 999 and pleaded for help to save his former wife’s life. Jones said he was “devastated” when he became aware of the divorce party. He said: “I couldn’t believe she would do that, I couldn’t believe she would hurt me that much.” Jones said he remembered arguing with Katrina but couldn’t remember attacking her.
THE heartbroken mum of Katrina Jones told how she will never get over losing her youngest daughter.
Jean Evans, along with other members of Katrina’s family, remained dignified and calm throughout the trial, despite hearing horrific evidence of the attack and previous incidents of harassment suffered at the hand of Jones.
In a touching statement given after the case, Mrs Evans said: “Katrina was the youngest of my four children. She was my baby and I miss her with all my heart. “I miss being able to cuddle and hold her and I miss being able to tell her how much I love her and how proud she made me feel every day. In hindsight I wish that I had told her every day that I loved her, at least it would have made up for all the times that I will not be able to do that now. My life has changed for ever and it will never be the same again. I loved my daughter very much and still do.”
Mrs Evans, a widow who lives in Middlesbrough, described her daughter as “funny, caring and lovely to be around”. And she added that the whole family are struggling to come to terms with what happened to Katrina. “Mark, Phillip and Susan who are Katrina’s brothers and sister are totally heartbroken at Katrina’s death and this will affect them and their families for the rest of their lives,” she said.
“With regards to Jordan (Katrina’s son) his whole life has been turned upside down and thrown into chaos. Everything that he trusted and believed in has been taken away from him.” She asked that the family’s privacy be respected.
During the case, Katrina’s family heard that police were called to the house on several occasions and she was keeping a diary of his harassment.
Detective Sergeant Colin Helyer, who led the case, said: “This is one of the most extreme cases of domestic violence that I have ever dealt with and the victim endured months and months of abuse which has ultimately led to her death. “Throughout the court case, Katrina’s family have had to listen to a lot of painful and upsetting evidence given by various witnesses. They have remained dignified throughout this time. This is a just result for a horrific crime. I only hope that it brings some closure for the family and they can now move on with their lives.”
Brian Jones was sentenced to a minimum of 10 years in prison for butchering 34-year-old mum-of-two Katrina Jones at the former marital home in Church Close, Marske. Katrina was knifed 12 times after arguing with her ex-husband on November 27 last year. She had been decking out the house with banners and balloons to celebrate the end of their 10-year marriage.
Yesterday there were dramatic scenes at Teesside Crown Court as Jones was found guilty of murdering Katrina at the end of a two-week trial. Jones, 63, of Thrushwood Crescent, Marske, collapsed in the dock, at which point the judge called an adjournment while the defendant received attention.
The former doorman and bodybuilder, had denied murder, raising the defences of provocation and diminished responsibility.But after deliberating for more than seven hours the jury of six men and six women unanimously found him guilty of murder.
The trial judge, the Recorder of Middlesbrough Judge Peter Fox QC, told Jones: “The jury has found you guilty of murder. I am bound therefore to pass, as I now do, a sentence of life imprisonment.” There were gasps from the public gallery and members of Jones’ family wept.
Struggling to be heard above the sound of crying, the judge said he was satisfied Jones had gone to get the knife from a neighbour’s house before returning and stabbing Katrina.
“Your intention, I am clear, was to kill her,” he said. The judge said he accepted Jones had been provoked, but not to the degree needed for a legal defence. He also took into account his age, his physical health and the fact that he had no previous convictions for violence.
But he told Jones, who will be 64 later this year, he would have to serve a minimum of 10 years before being considered for parole. A tearful Jones tried unsuccessfully to address the judge before being led from the dock. Family members shouted out that they loved him.
Members of Katrina’s family, who remained dignified and calm during and after the trial, had been in court to hear the verdict. Afterwards Katrina’s mum Jean Evans paid an emotional tribute to her daughter outside court. In a statement, Mrs Evans said Katrina “was my baby and I miss her with all my heart”.
As the family waited nearby while Detective Sergeant Colin Helyer, relatives of Jones came out of the court and several hurled abuse. Gestures were made and one shouted: “He’ll be out in six and a half.”
The court heard how the couple had been married for 10 years.
In February 2009, Jones found out his wife was seeing someone else when he discovered a Valentine’s card.
Katrina filed for divorce although Jones was desperate to save their marriage. Jones said they still regularly had sex until about July last year and left his head “screwed up”.
He ended up moving to a flat in Thrushwood Crescent, Marske. But he spent much of the time staying with his former neighbour next door to Katrina. Police were called a number of times by Katrina, who was keeping a diary of the harassment she was suffering at the hands of Jones. The trial had heard how he had gone round to confront Katrina as she prepared to hold a divorce party.
He snapped after seeing the house had been decorated with banners, balloons and streamers. One poster read: “Katrina’s divorce party. Free at last.” There was also a photo of Jones with the message “Pin the tail on the ex”, the jury heard. Jones argued with Katrina and then went next door to get a knife before returning and repeatedly stabbing her.
He then dialled 999 and pleaded for help to save his former wife’s life. Jones said he was “devastated” when he became aware of the divorce party. He said: “I couldn’t believe she would do that, I couldn’t believe she would hurt me that much.” Jones said he remembered arguing with Katrina but couldn’t remember attacking her.
THE heartbroken mum of Katrina Jones told how she will never get over losing her youngest daughter.
Jean Evans, along with other members of Katrina’s family, remained dignified and calm throughout the trial, despite hearing horrific evidence of the attack and previous incidents of harassment suffered at the hand of Jones.
In a touching statement given after the case, Mrs Evans said: “Katrina was the youngest of my four children. She was my baby and I miss her with all my heart. “I miss being able to cuddle and hold her and I miss being able to tell her how much I love her and how proud she made me feel every day. In hindsight I wish that I had told her every day that I loved her, at least it would have made up for all the times that I will not be able to do that now. My life has changed for ever and it will never be the same again. I loved my daughter very much and still do.”
Mrs Evans, a widow who lives in Middlesbrough, described her daughter as “funny, caring and lovely to be around”. And she added that the whole family are struggling to come to terms with what happened to Katrina. “Mark, Phillip and Susan who are Katrina’s brothers and sister are totally heartbroken at Katrina’s death and this will affect them and their families for the rest of their lives,” she said.
“With regards to Jordan (Katrina’s son) his whole life has been turned upside down and thrown into chaos. Everything that he trusted and believed in has been taken away from him.” She asked that the family’s privacy be respected.
During the case, Katrina’s family heard that police were called to the house on several occasions and she was keeping a diary of his harassment.
Detective Sergeant Colin Helyer, who led the case, said: “This is one of the most extreme cases of domestic violence that I have ever dealt with and the victim endured months and months of abuse which has ultimately led to her death. “Throughout the court case, Katrina’s family have had to listen to a lot of painful and upsetting evidence given by various witnesses. They have remained dignified throughout this time. This is a just result for a horrific crime. I only hope that it brings some closure for the family and they can now move on with their lives.”
Sunday, April 11, 2010
British man gets 25 to life sentence for running over wife for insurance policy
A cheating husband killed his wife 'in cold blood' after secretly taking out a £250,000 insurance policy on her life. Christopher Daffin, 43, ran down his wife Colette as she walked to work in the early morning.
He claimed he killed her in the heat of the moment, but Daffin is beginning a 25-year jail sentence for her murder. The electrician, who had been spotted 'lurking' in bushes nearby wearing dark clothing and sunglasses, had tried to make the tragedy look like a hit and run accident.
Minutes after the killing on July 8, he feigned surprise when one of his wife's colleagues rang to say she had not arrived at work at 6am. But detectives began to suspect him when he showed a lack of concern on learning his wife of 15 years had been killed in a road accident.
Police later discovered Daffin had allegedly been involved in an 'on-off' affair for at least two years, with a woman he met while working at her home. It also emerged he had forged his 43-year-old wife's signature on a £250,000 life insurance policy a year before her death. He then bought the 4x4 car used in the killing under a false name, never registering, taxing or insuring it.
Nottingham Crown Court was told Daffin claimed he had killed his wife in the heat of the moment after a blazing row. But prosecutors said it was a premeditated killing. Judge Jonathan Teare agreed, telling Daffin the murder was planned and carried out in 'cold, and not hot blood'. The judge was told how the electrician had 'lain in wait' for Mrs Daffin as she walked to work as a breakfast waitress at the Ringwood Hall Hotel near Chesterfield.
Nirmal Shant QC, prosecuting, told the court he used a Vauxhall Frontera bought in secret using a false name nine months earlier. Mrs Shant said a motorist travelling 80 yards behind Daffin watched as he swerved on to the pavement and hit Mrs Daffin before driving back on to the road without braking. Mrs Daffin was struck at about 30mph and dragged a short distance before being thrown clear of the car. She died of head injuries.
Her husband then drove to a derelict pub and abandoned the 4x4 vehicle before walking to the van he used for work and driving home. Before police arrived at the family home in Chesterfield, Daffin changed out of the clothes he had been spotted in earlier. But they were later found in a bag in his van, along with the registration document for the Frontera.
Mrs Shant said a year before murdering his wife, Daffin had taken out a life insurance policy in her name, forging her signature on the application form.
Judge Teare told him that although killing her may not have been his motive for taking out the policy, it was 'certainly in his mind'. He added: 'It was taken out at a time when you were having an active affair with another woman. 'I am satisfied it was in your mind that £250,000 would be coming your way if your wife died and no blame was attached to you.'
The court heard that Mrs Daffin confided in a friend two months before she died that she suspected her husband of having an affair. He had also threatened to kill her by running her over 'when there was no one there', the friend, Marie Shepherd, told the court.
Miss Shepherd said she tried to reassure Mrs Daffin that her husband must have been 'messing about' and asked her how he would get away with it 'with all the forensics'. But Mrs Daffin replied: 'Apparently he's got another car.'
Daffin was jailed for life and told he must serve at least 25 years before being eligible for release. Mrs Daffin's father, John Oliver, said: 'I'm satisfied with the sentence, but there are no winners in this case. I'd have been in favour of capital punishment - I don't see why the taxpayer should keep him for 25 years.' Daffin was sentenced April 8.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Rape myths in Britain are alive and well - New Statesman
The results of a survey published [Monday] suggest that more than half (54 per cent) of women think that rape victims are sometimes to blame for the crime.
Of these women, 71 per cent thought that the victim should accept responsibility if they got into the same bed as their attacker, compared with 57 per cent of men. Nearly a fifth (19 per cent) of women said that the victim should accept partial responsibility if they went back to the attacker's house. 23 per cent thought that a victim who danced suggestively on a night out was to blame if they were subsequently raped, and 31 per cent thought the same of those wearing provocative clothes.
These statistics -- gathered in an online survey for Havens sexual assault referral centres -- are sadly indicative of the culture of blame and disbelief that still surrounds rape. It is particularly worrying that the youngest age group -- those between 18 and 24 -- were the least forgiving, showing that these attitudes are not undergoing any positive generational shift.
Indeed, if this survey is cross-referenced to a similar poll five years ago, it appears that attitudes may have actually hardened -- then, a minority of British people blamed women for rape, although there was no notable difference between the genders. On specifics, results were similar: 30 per cent thought that a woman was at least partially responsible for being raped if she was drunk, and 22 per cent if she had had many sexual partners.
These results are depressing, but perhaps not wholly surprising. Why are people -- and women specifically -- so keen to blame the victim? These entrenched social attitudes may well be tied into the culture of disbelief in the justice system, and in the media. I have blogged before about the fact that the UK has the lowest conviction rates in Europe -- just 6.5 per cent of reported cases, compared with 34 per cent of other crimes.
It is also notable that cases of false accusations receive a disproportionate amount of newspaper coverage. A quick internet search yields innumerable results, although Rape Crisis estimates that false reporting rates for rape are around 6-8 per cent, exactly the same as for other crimes. This excessive coverage was reflected in the survey, where 18 per cent of respondents said that they thought most accusations of rape are probably false.
But the fact is, if so many people are ready to believe that a woman is culpable in her own violation, jury trials will inevitably be affected: it is a self-perpetuating, vicious circle. While the majority of people in the Havens poll were keen to assign partial blame to the victim, one in five women said that they would not report it to the police if they were raped, saying that they would be ashamed, or would not be believed. This feeling is justified -- just last year a freedom of information request showed that some police forces were failing to record more than 40 per cent of reported rape cases -- but we have no hope of changing police attitudes if these attitudes continue to proliferate across society.
We urgently need education; a high profile campaign, starting with schools, to educate the public and eradicate the view that rape is sometimes deserved.
In response to the survey, the BBC had reactions from rape victims, including these from victims whose rapists groomed them into relationships before the attacks.
I was raped by my husband as he became increasingly possessive and violent. How can you blame a woman who has gotten into bed with the person beforehand? Where there is violent, intimidation, where you feel obliged to get into bed with the person just to quell their temper like I did. I never went to the police because I am glad to have escaped my husband. Now, I want to forget it.
Anonymous, Bristol
My ex-boyfriend tried to rape me. I had got into bed with him at the end of night, I told him I didn't want sex (or anything) and if we were going to become an item again then I wanted to take things slow. He tried to force himself on me and I was screaming and fighting him when my housemates came in and pulled him off of me. I may have been naïve but I was not responsible for his inability to control himself.
K, London
Of these women, 71 per cent thought that the victim should accept responsibility if they got into the same bed as their attacker, compared with 57 per cent of men. Nearly a fifth (19 per cent) of women said that the victim should accept partial responsibility if they went back to the attacker's house. 23 per cent thought that a victim who danced suggestively on a night out was to blame if they were subsequently raped, and 31 per cent thought the same of those wearing provocative clothes.
These statistics -- gathered in an online survey for Havens sexual assault referral centres -- are sadly indicative of the culture of blame and disbelief that still surrounds rape. It is particularly worrying that the youngest age group -- those between 18 and 24 -- were the least forgiving, showing that these attitudes are not undergoing any positive generational shift.
Indeed, if this survey is cross-referenced to a similar poll five years ago, it appears that attitudes may have actually hardened -- then, a minority of British people blamed women for rape, although there was no notable difference between the genders. On specifics, results were similar: 30 per cent thought that a woman was at least partially responsible for being raped if she was drunk, and 22 per cent if she had had many sexual partners.
These results are depressing, but perhaps not wholly surprising. Why are people -- and women specifically -- so keen to blame the victim? These entrenched social attitudes may well be tied into the culture of disbelief in the justice system, and in the media. I have blogged before about the fact that the UK has the lowest conviction rates in Europe -- just 6.5 per cent of reported cases, compared with 34 per cent of other crimes.
It is also notable that cases of false accusations receive a disproportionate amount of newspaper coverage. A quick internet search yields innumerable results, although Rape Crisis estimates that false reporting rates for rape are around 6-8 per cent, exactly the same as for other crimes. This excessive coverage was reflected in the survey, where 18 per cent of respondents said that they thought most accusations of rape are probably false.
But the fact is, if so many people are ready to believe that a woman is culpable in her own violation, jury trials will inevitably be affected: it is a self-perpetuating, vicious circle. While the majority of people in the Havens poll were keen to assign partial blame to the victim, one in five women said that they would not report it to the police if they were raped, saying that they would be ashamed, or would not be believed. This feeling is justified -- just last year a freedom of information request showed that some police forces were failing to record more than 40 per cent of reported rape cases -- but we have no hope of changing police attitudes if these attitudes continue to proliferate across society.
We urgently need education; a high profile campaign, starting with schools, to educate the public and eradicate the view that rape is sometimes deserved.
In response to the survey, the BBC had reactions from rape victims, including these from victims whose rapists groomed them into relationships before the attacks.
I was raped by my husband as he became increasingly possessive and violent. How can you blame a woman who has gotten into bed with the person beforehand? Where there is violent, intimidation, where you feel obliged to get into bed with the person just to quell their temper like I did. I never went to the police because I am glad to have escaped my husband. Now, I want to forget it.
Anonymous, Bristol
My ex-boyfriend tried to rape me. I had got into bed with him at the end of night, I told him I didn't want sex (or anything) and if we were going to become an item again then I wanted to take things slow. He tried to force himself on me and I was screaming and fighting him when my housemates came in and pulled him off of me. I may have been naïve but I was not responsible for his inability to control himself.
K, London
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Curry poisoner gets minimum 23 year sentence for murder of "lover" after refusing to leave fiancee
By Caroline Gammell [London Telegraph]
Published: 3:46PM GMT 11 Feb 2010
Lakhvir Gaur Singh murdered Lakhvinder “Lucky” Cheema when she learned that he had rejected her and chosen a younger bride, Gurjeet Choough. Singh, 45, laced their vegetable curry with aconite, nicknamed the Queen of Poisons, which left Mr Cheema dying in agonising pain. His fiancée spent three days in a coma after the poisoning in January last year and has yet to recover fully.
Singh looked close to tears in the dock at the Old Bailey as she was told she would be nearly 70 by the time she was released. Passing a life sentence, Judge Paul Worsley said: You were not just a spurned lover, you did not simply explode in anger at your rejection. “You set about a cold and calculating revenge. You knew how deadly aconite was and how agonising the effects would be.”
Singh, a married mother of three, was found guilty of murder and grievous bodily harm but was cleared of attempting to poison 39-year-old Mr Cheema on an earlier occasion. Many of Mr Cheema’s relatives were in the public gallery to watch as Singh was sentenced.
His fiancee, now 23, said: “The poisoning led to Lakhvinder’s death and took me to the brink of death. I believe it will affect me for the rest of my life. I can never forgive Lakhvir as she has murdered one person and seriously harmed me. “Lakhvinder was looking forward to having children and also having his elderly father with us but none of this is now possible.”
Mr Cheema’s sister Narinder Kaur Singh, from Windsor, said her life and that of her two sons had been destroyed by Singh’s actions. “With Lakhvinder’s departure I cannot see any reason for living. In our culture a family goes on only through a sin but this has been snatched away from our family. All our joys have been snatched away.”
Mrs Singh, 48, said her husband Varinder – whom Singh tried to blame – had left the family home and she was spurned by her in-laws. “I feel as if there is only emptiness in my life. When my brother was alive he could not bear to see me crying, now I am left to cry for the rest of my life.”
Published: 3:46PM GMT 11 Feb 2010
Lakhvir Gaur Singh murdered Lakhvinder “Lucky” Cheema when she learned that he had rejected her and chosen a younger bride, Gurjeet Choough. Singh, 45, laced their vegetable curry with aconite, nicknamed the Queen of Poisons, which left Mr Cheema dying in agonising pain. His fiancée spent three days in a coma after the poisoning in January last year and has yet to recover fully.
Singh looked close to tears in the dock at the Old Bailey as she was told she would be nearly 70 by the time she was released. Passing a life sentence, Judge Paul Worsley said: You were not just a spurned lover, you did not simply explode in anger at your rejection. “You set about a cold and calculating revenge. You knew how deadly aconite was and how agonising the effects would be.”
Singh, a married mother of three, was found guilty of murder and grievous bodily harm but was cleared of attempting to poison 39-year-old Mr Cheema on an earlier occasion. Many of Mr Cheema’s relatives were in the public gallery to watch as Singh was sentenced.
His fiancee, now 23, said: “The poisoning led to Lakhvinder’s death and took me to the brink of death. I believe it will affect me for the rest of my life. I can never forgive Lakhvir as she has murdered one person and seriously harmed me. “Lakhvinder was looking forward to having children and also having his elderly father with us but none of this is now possible.”
Mr Cheema’s sister Narinder Kaur Singh, from Windsor, said her life and that of her two sons had been destroyed by Singh’s actions. “With Lakhvinder’s departure I cannot see any reason for living. In our culture a family goes on only through a sin but this has been snatched away from our family. All our joys have been snatched away.”
Mrs Singh, 48, said her husband Varinder – whom Singh tried to blame – had left the family home and she was spurned by her in-laws. “I feel as if there is only emptiness in my life. When my brother was alive he could not bear to see me crying, now I am left to cry for the rest of my life.”
Sunday, January 24, 2010
"Girlfriend" gets at least 32 years for torture death of man in Northern England
Life sentences for Chilton torture murderers
12:07pm Friday 22nd January 2010
Neil Hunter The Northern Echo
TWO people are today starting life sentences after being found guilty of the brutal torture murder of a man at the home they shared in County Durham. Clare Nicholls, 28, will serve a minimum 32 years for the torture and murder of her patrner Andrew Gardner and her brother, Simon Nicholls, 24, will serve a minimum 25 years. Her on-off lover Steven Martin, 44, is also facing a life term. He will be sentenced in February following the results of tests by a psychiatrist.
Mr Gardner’s battered and burnt body had more than 120 injuries on it when paramedics found him in his living room on March 13 last year. The 35-year-old had been starved, whipped, scalded, slashed, kicked and punched before he died in agony from a catalogue of horrific injuries.
Doctors found he had suffered 21 rib fractures and associated tissue damage as well as a fractured skull, bleeding on the brain and blood poisoning. Crude abuse had been scrawled on his back in nail varnish, and marks on his torso were described in court as “a grotesque game of noughts and crosses”.
His girlfriend, her brother and her former lover denied murder but were this afternoon convicted by a jury at the end of a harrowing three-week trial. Nicholls shook her head, laid it on a glass barrier in the dock and wept when the verdict was announced, but the two men showed no reaction.
The court heard how Clare Nicholls ruled the home in Arthur Street, Chilton, and how the men of the household were terrified of her temper. She repeatedly attacked Mr Gardner – the father of her youngest child – for what she saw as him being lazy or “stealing” food from the cupboards.
Some jurors wept during the trial as they heard how children saw the punishment beatings and, at times, were encouraged to join in. Nicholls’ brother and Martin – an ex-lover who moved into the house three weeks before Mr Gardner’s death and reignited an affair – also helped.
They later told police that Nicholls was the instigator and they were too frightened to stop the attacks in case she turned her violence towards them. On March 13 last year, Simon Nicholls made a 999 call, saying Mr Gardner had returned home half-an-hour earlier and collapsed unconscious.
He told paramedics that Mr Gardner said he had been beaten up by a gang while out for a walk, and was complaining about severe back pain. The story quickly raised doubts and police were called in, and a lengthy investigation followed – which resulted in the three being arrested.
A series of medical examinations showed that many of Mr Gardner’s injuries had been inflicted days – if not weeks or months – before he died. The suspects were released on bail, but were re-arrested and charged with murder in July when the results of the tests were received by police.
Clare Nicholls pleaded guilty to manslaughter at the end of the prosecution case, but the plea was not accepted and she was forced into the witness box. She confessed to inflicting “the best part” of Mr Gardner’s injuries, but also blamed her brother for some of the rib fractures and other beatings.
Martin was accused of “branding” Mr Gardner with a white-hot cigarette lighter, and scalding his feet and leg with boiling water from a kettle. He also owned up to repeatedly holding his lover’s boyfriend against a piping hot radiator for up to 20 seconds, causing three separate burns.
The court heard how the rib fractures were probably caused when former charity shop worker Nicholls jumped on her partner with her knees. A pathologist told the jury that the injuries were the kind usually associated with victims of car crashes or falls from “considerable” heights.
Prosecutors are seeking a 30-year starting point for the killers, but defence teams will argue this afternoon that the tariff should not be as high as that. The jurors who heard the harrowing details of Andrew Gardner's death will be spared jury service for the next 20 years.
Judge Peter Fox, QC, told the seven men and five women: "This has been a case of particular responsibility and heavy responsibility in its discharge.
"What I can decide and, indeed, pronounce my decision about, is to say as a reflection of my appreciation of the responisbility you have carried out, you are excused jury service for at least 20 years, with my thanks."
12:07pm Friday 22nd January 2010
Neil Hunter The Northern Echo
TWO people are today starting life sentences after being found guilty of the brutal torture murder of a man at the home they shared in County Durham. Clare Nicholls, 28, will serve a minimum 32 years for the torture and murder of her patrner Andrew Gardner and her brother, Simon Nicholls, 24, will serve a minimum 25 years. Her on-off lover Steven Martin, 44, is also facing a life term. He will be sentenced in February following the results of tests by a psychiatrist.
Mr Gardner’s battered and burnt body had more than 120 injuries on it when paramedics found him in his living room on March 13 last year. The 35-year-old had been starved, whipped, scalded, slashed, kicked and punched before he died in agony from a catalogue of horrific injuries.
Doctors found he had suffered 21 rib fractures and associated tissue damage as well as a fractured skull, bleeding on the brain and blood poisoning. Crude abuse had been scrawled on his back in nail varnish, and marks on his torso were described in court as “a grotesque game of noughts and crosses”.
His girlfriend, her brother and her former lover denied murder but were this afternoon convicted by a jury at the end of a harrowing three-week trial. Nicholls shook her head, laid it on a glass barrier in the dock and wept when the verdict was announced, but the two men showed no reaction.
The court heard how Clare Nicholls ruled the home in Arthur Street, Chilton, and how the men of the household were terrified of her temper. She repeatedly attacked Mr Gardner – the father of her youngest child – for what she saw as him being lazy or “stealing” food from the cupboards.
Some jurors wept during the trial as they heard how children saw the punishment beatings and, at times, were encouraged to join in. Nicholls’ brother and Martin – an ex-lover who moved into the house three weeks before Mr Gardner’s death and reignited an affair – also helped.
They later told police that Nicholls was the instigator and they were too frightened to stop the attacks in case she turned her violence towards them. On March 13 last year, Simon Nicholls made a 999 call, saying Mr Gardner had returned home half-an-hour earlier and collapsed unconscious.
He told paramedics that Mr Gardner said he had been beaten up by a gang while out for a walk, and was complaining about severe back pain. The story quickly raised doubts and police were called in, and a lengthy investigation followed – which resulted in the three being arrested.
A series of medical examinations showed that many of Mr Gardner’s injuries had been inflicted days – if not weeks or months – before he died. The suspects were released on bail, but were re-arrested and charged with murder in July when the results of the tests were received by police.
Clare Nicholls pleaded guilty to manslaughter at the end of the prosecution case, but the plea was not accepted and she was forced into the witness box. She confessed to inflicting “the best part” of Mr Gardner’s injuries, but also blamed her brother for some of the rib fractures and other beatings.
Martin was accused of “branding” Mr Gardner with a white-hot cigarette lighter, and scalding his feet and leg with boiling water from a kettle. He also owned up to repeatedly holding his lover’s boyfriend against a piping hot radiator for up to 20 seconds, causing three separate burns.
The court heard how the rib fractures were probably caused when former charity shop worker Nicholls jumped on her partner with her knees. A pathologist told the jury that the injuries were the kind usually associated with victims of car crashes or falls from “considerable” heights.
Prosecutors are seeking a 30-year starting point for the killers, but defence teams will argue this afternoon that the tariff should not be as high as that. The jurors who heard the harrowing details of Andrew Gardner's death will be spared jury service for the next 20 years.
Judge Peter Fox, QC, told the seven men and five women: "This has been a case of particular responsibility and heavy responsibility in its discharge.
"What I can decide and, indeed, pronounce my decision about, is to say as a reflection of my appreciation of the responisbility you have carried out, you are excused jury service for at least 20 years, with my thanks."
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Psychopathic rapist sentenced to at least 10 years in Scottish prison
Lindsay McIntosh [The Times Online]
A violent offender who subjected a 24-year-old beautician to an eight-hour rape ordeal in a squalid drinking den was jailed for life yesterday. Michal Marchlewski, described in a report as a psychopath, will have to serve at least 10 years.
Marchlewski, 21, a Polish citizen, had admitted charges including rape, assault, danger to life and robbery. He and his cousin raped the woman eight times after dragging her into a filthy shelter strewn with pornography in Dalry, Edinburgh. His cousin Tomasz Kryczyk, 26, hanged himself in his cell days before he was due in court.
Their victim, who has since moved back to Australia, was attacked in the face with pepper spray as she walked home from work through a pedestrian underpass in daylight. Marchlewski grabbed her from behind and dragged her down an embankment through undergrowth to the makeshift shelter.
She told police she did not think she would survive. At one stage, she managed to get a step out of the shelter before being dragged back. Eventually the two cousins packed some of her belongings into a suitcase and said she could leave.
Sentence had been deferred to the hearing at Edinburgh High Court yesterday, for Dr Stephen Evans, an expert on risk assessment, to complete a report on the rapist. Dr Evans said Marchlewski had continued the assault despite the woman’s pleas and protests, and had subsequently shown no concern or remorse. He would be capable of sadistically motivated violence in the future and showed a “psychopathic personality disorder”.
The father of the victim was in court as lawyers discussed Dr Evans’s report. He heard of Marchlewski’s violent background which included abusing his sister and terrorising members of the capital’s Polish community. The rapist had shown “visible enjoyment” while slaughtering a pig during a previous job. The court heard that Marchlewski had followed his father to Scotland early in 2007 but had not held down a job. He has previous convictions in Poland.
Judge Lord Bracadale said if he was freed, Home Office officials should consider deporting him to Poland.
He imposed a life-long restiction order on the rapist. Tony Graham, for the defence, insisted that Marchlewski was sorry. “He has destroyed somebody’s life. His actions that day cannot be forgiven, cannot be forgotten and will have a lasting impact,” he said.
After the sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector John McKenzie, of Lothian and Borders Police, said the victim was to be commended for her bravery in coming forward to police.
A violent offender who subjected a 24-year-old beautician to an eight-hour rape ordeal in a squalid drinking den was jailed for life yesterday. Michal Marchlewski, described in a report as a psychopath, will have to serve at least 10 years.
Marchlewski, 21, a Polish citizen, had admitted charges including rape, assault, danger to life and robbery. He and his cousin raped the woman eight times after dragging her into a filthy shelter strewn with pornography in Dalry, Edinburgh. His cousin Tomasz Kryczyk, 26, hanged himself in his cell days before he was due in court.
Their victim, who has since moved back to Australia, was attacked in the face with pepper spray as she walked home from work through a pedestrian underpass in daylight. Marchlewski grabbed her from behind and dragged her down an embankment through undergrowth to the makeshift shelter.
She told police she did not think she would survive. At one stage, she managed to get a step out of the shelter before being dragged back. Eventually the two cousins packed some of her belongings into a suitcase and said she could leave.
Sentence had been deferred to the hearing at Edinburgh High Court yesterday, for Dr Stephen Evans, an expert on risk assessment, to complete a report on the rapist. Dr Evans said Marchlewski had continued the assault despite the woman’s pleas and protests, and had subsequently shown no concern or remorse. He would be capable of sadistically motivated violence in the future and showed a “psychopathic personality disorder”.
The father of the victim was in court as lawyers discussed Dr Evans’s report. He heard of Marchlewski’s violent background which included abusing his sister and terrorising members of the capital’s Polish community. The rapist had shown “visible enjoyment” while slaughtering a pig during a previous job. The court heard that Marchlewski had followed his father to Scotland early in 2007 but had not held down a job. He has previous convictions in Poland.
Judge Lord Bracadale said if he was freed, Home Office officials should consider deporting him to Poland.
He imposed a life-long restiction order on the rapist. Tony Graham, for the defence, insisted that Marchlewski was sorry. “He has destroyed somebody’s life. His actions that day cannot be forgiven, cannot be forgotten and will have a lasting impact,” he said.
After the sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector John McKenzie, of Lothian and Borders Police, said the victim was to be commended for her bravery in coming forward to police.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Father compensated £8,100 for detective work leading to conviction of son-in-law for daughter's death
Last updated at 1:56 AM on 24th December 2009
A man who carried out his own investigation to prove his daughter was murdered by her husband has been given £8,000 for his efforts. Retired college lecturer Bert Whitehead, 83, spent six years proving his daughter Anita Stead's death was not an accident. She was 39 when she died in 2002.
Her husband Alan Stead locked the mother-of-four in a computer room inside their garage before starting the fire. He claimed the fire was an accident caused by an electrical fault. Mr Whitehead collected witness statements that led to his son-in-law being convicted of murder.
"I had to keep fighting to the bitter end to get justice for Anita,' he said yesterday. 'It is what any father would do. My family has lost forever a beautiful daughter, joyful, well-educated, well-informed and wonderful mother."
Delivery driver Stead, 43, was jailed for life at Stafford Crown Court in February. A judge this week awarded Mr Whitehead £8,098 "to compensate him in respect of his expenses and loss of time."
Mr Whitehead said: "I wasn't allowed in court, but I sent all the information I had to the judge, and he agreed with me. This isn't a reward or profit or anything. It simply amounts to the effort I had to put in, in order to achieve my objectives. For two years and 10 months I was on my own, against a bureaucratic wall, and in the end the only person who listened to me was the coroner."
Judge Mark Eades told Stafford Crown Court: 'Under my powers, I find, as a fact, that Mr Whitehead has been active in the apprehension of the defendant and is therefore eligible to receive a reasonable sum to compensate him in respect of his expenses and loss of time. "In respect of what he has done to effect the apprehension of the defendant, he should receive £8,098, paid by the High Sheriff of Staffordshire."
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Barbarian "boyfriend" sentenced to 12 years for eye gouging woman
Published Date: 21 November 2009
By JOHN ROBERTSON
A JEALOUS man who gouged out his former partner's eye and threw it over the balcony of a high-rise flat was jailed for 12 years yesterday for what a judge described as a crime of almost medieval barbarity.
Natalie Farrell, 27, had broken up with Francis Murphy, 26, and was living with another man when he went to her home and attacked them. The eye had been "dangling" after the attack and she thought Murphy then wiped a hair from her cheek and put it over the balcony of the eighth floor of Dalfield Court, Dundee. It was only when she went downstairs and a friend found the eye that she realised what had happened.
Murphy had admitted gouging out the eye. He was also found guilty of twice attempting to murder Ms Farrell on 26 May, once by strangling her and then by trying to throw her over the balcony.
Solicitor-advocate Iain Paterson, defending, said the offences had stemmed from a combination of tangled emotions, drink and drugs. He said Murphy was struggling to come to terms with what had happened.
The judge, John Morris, QC, told Murphy: "You were convicted of crimes which are almost medieval in their barbarity and which would make any right-thinking person recoil in horror."
Ms Farrell told the trial that she and Murphy had been partners for ten years, but they had separated and Paul Stanton, 31, moved in a couple of days before the incidents. Murphy did not take the split well, she said. She said that she had been expecting a visitor and opened her door when the buzzer sounded, but it was Murphy. He was "under the influence of drugs and heavily intoxicated with drink".
After the attack the police and an ambulance arrived and a friend found the eye and gave it to paramedics. However, the hospital was unable to re-attach it, Ms Farrell added.
By JOHN ROBERTSON
A JEALOUS man who gouged out his former partner's eye and threw it over the balcony of a high-rise flat was jailed for 12 years yesterday for what a judge described as a crime of almost medieval barbarity.
Natalie Farrell, 27, had broken up with Francis Murphy, 26, and was living with another man when he went to her home and attacked them. The eye had been "dangling" after the attack and she thought Murphy then wiped a hair from her cheek and put it over the balcony of the eighth floor of Dalfield Court, Dundee. It was only when she went downstairs and a friend found the eye that she realised what had happened.
Murphy had admitted gouging out the eye. He was also found guilty of twice attempting to murder Ms Farrell on 26 May, once by strangling her and then by trying to throw her over the balcony.
Solicitor-advocate Iain Paterson, defending, said the offences had stemmed from a combination of tangled emotions, drink and drugs. He said Murphy was struggling to come to terms with what had happened.
The judge, John Morris, QC, told Murphy: "You were convicted of crimes which are almost medieval in their barbarity and which would make any right-thinking person recoil in horror."
Ms Farrell told the trial that she and Murphy had been partners for ten years, but they had separated and Paul Stanton, 31, moved in a couple of days before the incidents. Murphy did not take the split well, she said. She said that she had been expecting a visitor and opened her door when the buzzer sounded, but it was Murphy. He was "under the influence of drugs and heavily intoxicated with drink".
After the attack the police and an ambulance arrived and a friend found the eye and gave it to paramedics. However, the hospital was unable to re-attach it, Ms Farrell added.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
British guard has inmate's baby, sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison
A British prison guard was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison - 1 year for misconduct in public office, and 1 1/2 years for cell phone smuggling - for a sexual relationship she had with a 21 year old "dangerous" offender. Kelly-Anne McDade, 31, got pregnant with Nelson Delgado's baby while she worked at and he was an inmate at Aylesbury young offenders institution in Buckinghamshire. McDade worked at the institution for 3 years before starting the relationship with Delgado. McDade gave birth in February this year.
Nigel Ogborne, the prosecutor, said that McDade tried to explain away the pregnancy by saying that it was the result of a fling. "She was asked by the prison authorities about the pregnancy and she indicated that it was as a result of a relationship on a foreign holiday." After the prison governor found out it was Delgado's baby, he said it "could have caused a massive breach of security."
Richard Germain, defending McDade, told the court: "There is no doubt it was an inappropriate relationship, but Ms McDade would say, 'You can't help who you fall in love with'.
She fell in love with this serving prisoner, who was nearly 10 years her junior."
He said the case was "unique". "At some point in the future, she and Mr Delgado hope to set up home together and bring up the child together."
McDade resigned after she was caught on closed circuit TV unlocking Delgado's door after lights out. After Delgado was moved to Swinfen Hall young offenders institution earlier this year, McDade tried to smuggle three cell phones inside a stereo. She was caught, and a subsequent search of her home turned up a "love" letter and some weed.
The presiding judge was Christopher Tyrer at Aylesbury Crown Court.
Nigel Ogborne, the prosecutor, said that McDade tried to explain away the pregnancy by saying that it was the result of a fling. "She was asked by the prison authorities about the pregnancy and she indicated that it was as a result of a relationship on a foreign holiday." After the prison governor found out it was Delgado's baby, he said it "could have caused a massive breach of security."
Richard Germain, defending McDade, told the court: "There is no doubt it was an inappropriate relationship, but Ms McDade would say, 'You can't help who you fall in love with'.
She fell in love with this serving prisoner, who was nearly 10 years her junior."
He said the case was "unique". "At some point in the future, she and Mr Delgado hope to set up home together and bring up the child together."
McDade resigned after she was caught on closed circuit TV unlocking Delgado's door after lights out. After Delgado was moved to Swinfen Hall young offenders institution earlier this year, McDade tried to smuggle three cell phones inside a stereo. She was caught, and a subsequent search of her home turned up a "love" letter and some weed.
The presiding judge was Christopher Tyrer at Aylesbury Crown Court.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
BBC - Devon, England sex offender's jail term appeal rejected
A sex offender from Devon who breached an order banning him from contacting people over the age of 60 has failed in a bid to reduce his latest jail term.
Derek Francis Hornett, of Crossways, Whitestone, Exeter, was jailed in 2005 for three years for knowingly infecting an 82-year-old Paignton woman with HIV. In May, Hornett was again sentenced to three years for breaching the order.
Judges at the Court of Appeal rejected the 49-year-old's case, saying his sentence was "richly deserved".
Hornett, who knew he was HIV positive, was first jailed for causing grievous bodily harm to the elderly woman after having sex with her and infecting her with the HIV virus.
He was jailed by Judge Graham Cottle in December 2005, who told Hornett his actions had devastated his victim both physically and mentally. As part of that sentence, Hornett was given a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO) banning him from contacting people over 60.
But, within months of being released from jail, Hornett struck up a friendship with a 66-year-old woman, who he did odd jobs for.
Police were called in when the woman became suspicious. They discovered that Hornett had befriended three other women over 60, one of whom was in her 80s.
He was jailed for three years for breaching the SOPO.
His lawyers argued Hornett's sentence should be reduced to give him the chance to care for his seriously ill wife. But Mr Justice Foskett said: "Nothing we have heard persuades us that it's right to make any alteration to a richly deserved sentence."
Derek Francis Hornett, of Crossways, Whitestone, Exeter, was jailed in 2005 for three years for knowingly infecting an 82-year-old Paignton woman with HIV. In May, Hornett was again sentenced to three years for breaching the order.
Judges at the Court of Appeal rejected the 49-year-old's case, saying his sentence was "richly deserved".
Hornett, who knew he was HIV positive, was first jailed for causing grievous bodily harm to the elderly woman after having sex with her and infecting her with the HIV virus.
He was jailed by Judge Graham Cottle in December 2005, who told Hornett his actions had devastated his victim both physically and mentally. As part of that sentence, Hornett was given a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO) banning him from contacting people over 60.
But, within months of being released from jail, Hornett struck up a friendship with a 66-year-old woman, who he did odd jobs for.
Police were called in when the woman became suspicious. They discovered that Hornett had befriended three other women over 60, one of whom was in her 80s.
He was jailed for three years for breaching the SOPO.
His lawyers argued Hornett's sentence should be reduced to give him the chance to care for his seriously ill wife. But Mr Justice Foskett said: "Nothing we have heard persuades us that it's right to make any alteration to a richly deserved sentence."
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Husband sentenced to 9 months in British jail for pimping wife, others
Daily Mail [UK]
By Dan Newling and Arthur Martin
Last updated at 4:15 PM on 07th July 2009
A school games master was jailed for nine months today after pleading guilty to running a brothel. Tim Blake-Bowell, 47, a teacher at King Ethelbert School in Birchington, near Margate, Kent, had admitted a charge of controlling prostitutes for financial gain at a previous hearing at Canterbury Crown Court.
His ex-wife Emma, 37, also pleaded guilty to the charge, but was given a nine month suspended sentence today as the judge said she had been susceptible to pressure from her husband due to her vulnerable mental health.
By day, Blake-Bowell was a dedicated teacher at the rural comprehensive, where he was fanatical about hockey and cricket. By night, he sold his body and managed a team of six other prostitutes - including his wife - from a rented flat in Canterbury.
The court heard that Blake-Bowell was responsible for the financial side of the brothel, variously named Gem's, Pandora's and Men for all Seasons, paying the six women they employed and taking care of bills and rent.
His wife, who had herself worked as an escort in the city since 2004, was in charge of the day-to-day running of the business. She acted as a receptionist, worked out the girls' rotas, introduced them to clients and also prostituted herself.
The couple, who have two young children, split up after their arrest in December 2007.
Sentencing the pair today, Judge Adele Williams said: 'You Timothy Blake-Bowell rented a flat at 21 Henry Court, Gordon Road, in Canterbury.
'From the address, six prostitutes including your wife and co-defendant offered sexual activity for money. You and your wife controlled these prostitutes. You placed advertisements in papers and rotas were organised. You and your wife took approximately 40 per cent of their earnings.
This was organised prostitution which is a criminal offence. I accept that there is no evidence of coercion or corruption and there were no illegal immigrants or underage girls, but you did this for money.'
'Your overheads were approximately £2,000 a month and in my judgment you would not have continued with this enterprise unless you were making a profit.'
Alistair Walker, prosecuting, earlier described how Blake-Bowell offered clients 'personal services by male and females for men, women and couples of all persuasions'.
Mr Walker told the court: 'Blake-Bowell organised and paid for advertisements in the press, took bookings, organised rotas and took a share of earnings. In his hands-on position as owner of the business he was in a position to direct operations at close quarters. He helped come up with the advertising strap lines and was responsible for the financial side of the business. He was aware of which girls were working and when.
He drove them home after their shifts and he told them what they should say when talking to clients over the phone.'
Blake-Bowell, 47, paid £560 a month to rent the Canterbury flat and spent another £1,400 a month on advertising. The brothel was staffed from 11am until midnight with the women charging £40 for a massage, £60 for 30 minutes of sex and £100 for a full hour.
The court was told in mitigation that the women were allowed to keep 60 per cent of their takings rather than the 50 per cent rate normal in brothels in the area. Although the Blake-Bowells used only willing British women, their operation was uncovered during a Kent Police probe into illegal sex-trafficking from Eastern Europe.
The court heard that during a raid on the flat in November 2007 officers spoke to a woman calling herself 'Lorna Larouche'. While the flat contained nothing that indicated that anyone lived there permanently, it was filled with underwear, sex toys and massage oils. During a subsequent undercover operation a vice squad officer named in court as Steve posed as a client and was offered sex by a woman at the property. Steve declined and instead had a massage, the court heard.
In court, Emma, 37, who has two more children by a previous husband, was described as a working prostitute who called herself 'Brandy'. She was also the brothel's 'meeter and greeter'.
In police interviews she admitted that she had been involved in running the operation, explaining that she had decided to take a more managerial role as she was 'fed up with being abused'.
While selling your body for money is not illegal in England, profiting from prostitution is.
Shortly after his arrest in December 2007, Blake-Bowell lost his job at 700-pupil King Ethelbert although he was allowed to stay on until the end of term. He has taken up taxi driving.
At the time, school sources said they were astonished at his involvement, with one mother describing the sports master as a 'model teacher'. Blake-Bowell shed tears as a statement from his former headmaster was read out describing him as a 'valued and trusted colleague' who had shown 'unstinting commitment to those pupils in his pastoral care'.
His lawyer offered no insight into why he turned to vice other than to say: 'He is horrified by his situation and what he has done.'
The court also heard that his estranged wife, who since the age of 16 has never worked as anything other than a prostitute, suffered an abusive childhood and a violent relationship with her former partner. She met her current husband while living in a women's refuge in Canterbury and had two more children with him.
Their marriage was not a success either, but she 'simply didn't have the strength to leave him', her lawyer, Deborah Charles, said.
Addressing Emma Blake-Bowell, Judge Williams said: 'I have come to the conclusion that you remained in what was for you a destructive relationship with your co-defendant, and you were unable to resist at the suggestion of your husband, to engage in destructive sexual behaviour.'
She added that pre-sentencing assessments on the defendant had found that she suffered from clinical depression and chronic post-traumatic stress disorder due to her difficult background.
Giving her a nine-month sentence suspended for two years, the judge added that she must also carry out a two-year supervision order in which she must seek treatment, as well as a three-month curfew order. She said: 'If you don't get help now then the cycle will begin again and you will no doubt breach your order and you will come back in front of me.'
Blake-Bowell did not show any emotion as he was led away from the dock. He was suspended from his post at King Ethelbert School, a mixed comprehensive, following his arrest and is now no longer employed there.
By Dan Newling and Arthur Martin
Last updated at 4:15 PM on 07th July 2009
A school games master was jailed for nine months today after pleading guilty to running a brothel. Tim Blake-Bowell, 47, a teacher at King Ethelbert School in Birchington, near Margate, Kent, had admitted a charge of controlling prostitutes for financial gain at a previous hearing at Canterbury Crown Court.
His ex-wife Emma, 37, also pleaded guilty to the charge, but was given a nine month suspended sentence today as the judge said she had been susceptible to pressure from her husband due to her vulnerable mental health.
By day, Blake-Bowell was a dedicated teacher at the rural comprehensive, where he was fanatical about hockey and cricket. By night, he sold his body and managed a team of six other prostitutes - including his wife - from a rented flat in Canterbury.
The court heard that Blake-Bowell was responsible for the financial side of the brothel, variously named Gem's, Pandora's and Men for all Seasons, paying the six women they employed and taking care of bills and rent.
His wife, who had herself worked as an escort in the city since 2004, was in charge of the day-to-day running of the business. She acted as a receptionist, worked out the girls' rotas, introduced them to clients and also prostituted herself.
The couple, who have two young children, split up after their arrest in December 2007.
Sentencing the pair today, Judge Adele Williams said: 'You Timothy Blake-Bowell rented a flat at 21 Henry Court, Gordon Road, in Canterbury.
'From the address, six prostitutes including your wife and co-defendant offered sexual activity for money. You and your wife controlled these prostitutes. You placed advertisements in papers and rotas were organised. You and your wife took approximately 40 per cent of their earnings.
This was organised prostitution which is a criminal offence. I accept that there is no evidence of coercion or corruption and there were no illegal immigrants or underage girls, but you did this for money.'
'Your overheads were approximately £2,000 a month and in my judgment you would not have continued with this enterprise unless you were making a profit.'
Alistair Walker, prosecuting, earlier described how Blake-Bowell offered clients 'personal services by male and females for men, women and couples of all persuasions'.
Mr Walker told the court: 'Blake-Bowell organised and paid for advertisements in the press, took bookings, organised rotas and took a share of earnings. In his hands-on position as owner of the business he was in a position to direct operations at close quarters. He helped come up with the advertising strap lines and was responsible for the financial side of the business. He was aware of which girls were working and when.
He drove them home after their shifts and he told them what they should say when talking to clients over the phone.'
Blake-Bowell, 47, paid £560 a month to rent the Canterbury flat and spent another £1,400 a month on advertising. The brothel was staffed from 11am until midnight with the women charging £40 for a massage, £60 for 30 minutes of sex and £100 for a full hour.
The court was told in mitigation that the women were allowed to keep 60 per cent of their takings rather than the 50 per cent rate normal in brothels in the area. Although the Blake-Bowells used only willing British women, their operation was uncovered during a Kent Police probe into illegal sex-trafficking from Eastern Europe.
The court heard that during a raid on the flat in November 2007 officers spoke to a woman calling herself 'Lorna Larouche'. While the flat contained nothing that indicated that anyone lived there permanently, it was filled with underwear, sex toys and massage oils. During a subsequent undercover operation a vice squad officer named in court as Steve posed as a client and was offered sex by a woman at the property. Steve declined and instead had a massage, the court heard.
In court, Emma, 37, who has two more children by a previous husband, was described as a working prostitute who called herself 'Brandy'. She was also the brothel's 'meeter and greeter'.
In police interviews she admitted that she had been involved in running the operation, explaining that she had decided to take a more managerial role as she was 'fed up with being abused'.
While selling your body for money is not illegal in England, profiting from prostitution is.
Shortly after his arrest in December 2007, Blake-Bowell lost his job at 700-pupil King Ethelbert although he was allowed to stay on until the end of term. He has taken up taxi driving.
At the time, school sources said they were astonished at his involvement, with one mother describing the sports master as a 'model teacher'. Blake-Bowell shed tears as a statement from his former headmaster was read out describing him as a 'valued and trusted colleague' who had shown 'unstinting commitment to those pupils in his pastoral care'.
His lawyer offered no insight into why he turned to vice other than to say: 'He is horrified by his situation and what he has done.'
The court also heard that his estranged wife, who since the age of 16 has never worked as anything other than a prostitute, suffered an abusive childhood and a violent relationship with her former partner. She met her current husband while living in a women's refuge in Canterbury and had two more children with him.
Their marriage was not a success either, but she 'simply didn't have the strength to leave him', her lawyer, Deborah Charles, said.
Addressing Emma Blake-Bowell, Judge Williams said: 'I have come to the conclusion that you remained in what was for you a destructive relationship with your co-defendant, and you were unable to resist at the suggestion of your husband, to engage in destructive sexual behaviour.'
She added that pre-sentencing assessments on the defendant had found that she suffered from clinical depression and chronic post-traumatic stress disorder due to her difficult background.
Giving her a nine-month sentence suspended for two years, the judge added that she must also carry out a two-year supervision order in which she must seek treatment, as well as a three-month curfew order. She said: 'If you don't get help now then the cycle will begin again and you will no doubt breach your order and you will come back in front of me.'
Blake-Bowell did not show any emotion as he was led away from the dock. He was suspended from his post at King Ethelbert School, a mixed comprehensive, following his arrest and is now no longer employed there.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Groom jailed 7 years after pre-wedding attack - wife stands by him
7:00am Tuesday 21st April 2009
By Echo Reporter »
A DRUNKEN bridegroom-to-be who stalked a young mother through the streets of Bournemouth on his stag night before molesting her has been jailed for seven years.
Louis Palmer, 33, was captured on the town’s CCTV cameras walking behind the victim, who had become separated from her friends, through the shopping precinct in central Bournemouth.
Palmer of Delph Road, Brierley Hill, West Midlands, pounced on the woman, who cannot be named, when she reached a dimly lit area, grabbing her and pushing her over a wall before sexually assaulting her.
Palmer’s wife, who married him three weeks after the incident, burst into tears as the verdict was read out and other relatives looked stunned.
Earlier in the trial, prosecutor Susan Evans told the jury: “When she told him to stop, he punched her. The next thing she remembers is being on the floor and he was gone.”
Palmer was arrested after a detective who had viewed the video footage recognised him.
Palmer told officers he had been lost when he asked the woman for directions to the seafront and she suggested that he had “a last fling”.
Palmer said: “One minute we were fine and the next thing she was screaming and shouting. When women become hysterical it’s necessary to slap them sometimes.”
The victim told the court: “I was really worried about how drunk I was”, but added: “I knew I was being sexually assaulted.”
Palmer was found guilty of a sexual assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm over the incident, which happened in the early hours of July 5 last year.
Judge Roger Jarvis told Palmer:
“You obviously spotted her and stalked her in a predatory way. You violently assaulted her. This had a devastating effect on a woman who previously prided herself on her independence.”
Palmer was also put on the Sex Offenders Register for life.
Speaking afterwards DS Phil Swanton of Bournemouth CID, paid tribute to the victim.
He added: “This was a despicable attack on a lone female. Mr Palmer stalked the victim for just under one mile before attacking her and is clearly a very dangerous sexual predator.”
By Echo Reporter »
A DRUNKEN bridegroom-to-be who stalked a young mother through the streets of Bournemouth on his stag night before molesting her has been jailed for seven years.
Louis Palmer, 33, was captured on the town’s CCTV cameras walking behind the victim, who had become separated from her friends, through the shopping precinct in central Bournemouth.
Palmer of Delph Road, Brierley Hill, West Midlands, pounced on the woman, who cannot be named, when she reached a dimly lit area, grabbing her and pushing her over a wall before sexually assaulting her.
Palmer’s wife, who married him three weeks after the incident, burst into tears as the verdict was read out and other relatives looked stunned.
Earlier in the trial, prosecutor Susan Evans told the jury: “When she told him to stop, he punched her. The next thing she remembers is being on the floor and he was gone.”
Palmer was arrested after a detective who had viewed the video footage recognised him.
Palmer told officers he had been lost when he asked the woman for directions to the seafront and she suggested that he had “a last fling”.
Palmer said: “One minute we were fine and the next thing she was screaming and shouting. When women become hysterical it’s necessary to slap them sometimes.”
The victim told the court: “I was really worried about how drunk I was”, but added: “I knew I was being sexually assaulted.”
Palmer was found guilty of a sexual assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm over the incident, which happened in the early hours of July 5 last year.
Judge Roger Jarvis told Palmer:
“You obviously spotted her and stalked her in a predatory way. You violently assaulted her. This had a devastating effect on a woman who previously prided herself on her independence.”
Palmer was also put on the Sex Offenders Register for life.
Speaking afterwards DS Phil Swanton of Bournemouth CID, paid tribute to the victim.
He added: “This was a despicable attack on a lone female. Mr Palmer stalked the victim for just under one mile before attacking her and is clearly a very dangerous sexual predator.”
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