Central Criminal Court Crown Court Sentencing Results

David McCorkell, 54, murdered the 61-year-old victim at her ground-floor flat in Beckenham, south London, on 18 July 2019. He bludgeoned and strangled her in an act of savage violence, inflicting 71 injuries to her head and neck. She was found unresponsive by police after neighbours raised concerns. McCorkell had met her three months earlier and visited her daily, during which time she became painfully thin and complained of ill-treatment. He had a extensive criminal history, including prior convictions for assault, burglary, and possession of weapons, and was on licence after a previous life sentence.

Kirill Belorusov strangled his girlfriend, the victim, a 34-year-old French filmmaker, with a ligature for four minutes in her flat in Kew, southwest London, on or around 2 March 2019. He had been gaslighting her for 10 years, manipulating her emotionally and financially by pretending to have cancer, mocking her appearance, and promising a new home that did not exist. After the murder, he bound her hands and feet, wrapped her body in bin bags, and buried it in a shallow grave in her garden. He then used her phone to send misleading messages and watched pornography at the scene.

Samantha Ford drowned her 23-month-old twins in the bath to avenge her husband ending their marriage. She was suffering from a significant psychiatric illness at the time, leading to the acceptance of a plea of manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.

Razvan Vladescu, along with his brother and another man, beat the victim to death outside a shop in Ilford on November 12, 2017. The group, armed with pick axe handles and garden shears, attacked the victim as he bought cigarettes. The brutal assault was only stopped when paramedics drove past and turned on sirens. Vladescu was found guilty of murder and possession of an offensive weapon.

Ionut Vasile was involved in the fatal beating of the victim. He owned the getaway car, a black BMW, and was present during the attack. He was found guilty of manslaughter.

Araman-Nardi Stoica joined his brother and another man in fatally attacking the victim with pick axe handles and garden shears. After the attack, he hid at an address in Oldham until arrested. He was convicted of murder and possession of an offensive weapon.

David Thomas, 74, lay in wait for his estranged wife the victim, 69, at their matrimonial home in Herne Hill, south London, on July 24, 2018. After she left him upon discovering her affair with Victor Cassar, whom she reconnected with via Facebook, Thomas stabbed her multiple times, including twice to the chest and to the head, and struck her over the head several times with a shillelagh, breaking it. He confronted her demanding to know where she lived, and neighbours heard her screaming and wailing followed by thudding sounds. Thomas claimed he was in a daze after she taunted him about her sex life and their daughters, but the judge found he lost his temper and initiated the attack.

On 1 June 2018 at a home in Brent, Ioan Campeanu stabbed his 28-year-old pregnant girlfriend the victim to death with a pair of scissors. She was about 30 weeks pregnant, and the attack killed both her and the unborn baby. Campeanu had taken cocaine and later called 999, telling the operator 'I killed her'. Police found him calm and lacking emotion. A post-mortem revealed injuries to the victim's genitalia that indicated an intent to destroy the child. Campeanu, a Romanian national, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 26 years for murder and a concurrent 14 years for child destruction.

In 1990, Russell Bishop kidnapped a seven-year-old girl from the street near her Brighton home, molested her, strangled her, and left her for dead. The girl survived the attack. Bishop was convicted based on evidence from the incident.

Theodore Johnson battered and strangled the victim to death at his home in Upper Holloway, north London, on 15 December 2016. The victim, aged 51, had ended their relationship in autumn 2016 and started seeing another man. She visited Johnson's flat to help him with a passport application at the Jamaican embassy. Johnson attacked her brutally with a claw hammer, striking her head at least six times, causing blunt force trauma, and then strangled her with a dressing gown belt. The attack was motivated by jealousy and anger over her unwillingness to reconcile. Johnson had been discharged from a secure hospital in 1997 under conditions including disclosing any relationships, but he concealed his year-long relationship with the victim, which began in 1996 during unescorted leave. He was arrested on 19 January 2017 after attempting suicide by throwing himself in front of a train at Cheshunt station, resulting in the loss of both arms.

Bradley Clifford mowed down a moped carrying the victim, 18, and his friend, before beating the victim to death in a rage after his red Ford Mustang was damaged. The incident followed a confrontation between two groups of young people outside a bar shortly after 3am on 5 August 2017. The victim's friend weaved into oncoming traffic and tried to mount the pavement to escape, but he and the victim, riding pillion, were thrown into the air when Bradley Clifford crashed into them. As the victim lay dying in the road, Bradley Clifford leapt out of his car and beat him to death.

David Harris, a 68-year-old retired TV producer, attempted to hire hitmen to murder his 69-year-old partner to access her £800,000 inheritance and fund his relationship with his 28-year-old lover Ugne Cekaviciute. He offered up to £250,000 to at least six potential hitmen, instructing them to stage the murder as a car-jacking, mugging, or accident, such as while she walked to church or left her country club. Harris claimed it was research for a thriller novel 'Too Close to Kill', but no evidence of writing existed. He was arrested on 12 November 2016 after approaching an undercover officer. The plot unfolded from late 2011 after Harris became infatuated with Cekaviciute, whom he met in a brothel, and began using the victim's money to support the affair while growing frustrated with her.

Thomas Mair attacked and murdered the victim, a Labour MP, outside the victim's constituency surgery in Birstall on June 16, 2016. He shot the victim multiple times and stabbed the victim, reloading his weapon during the assault. Eyewitnesses reported the attacker warning bystanders and fleeing the scene calmly, with one witness making a 999 call describing the chaos.

Ben Butler murdered his six-year-old daughter the victim on 28 October 2013 by inflicting catastrophic head injuries, likely by hitting her with a blunt object or throwing her against a wall, at their home in Sutton, southwest London. He had a history of violence, including prior convictions for assaulting the victim as a baby, which were later quashed. Butler staged the scene to mimic an accident, delayed calling for help, and involved his partner in the cover-up. He also subjected the victim to other abuses, such as an untreated broken shoulder.

Arthur Simpson-Kent murdered his partner and their two sons, aged 8 and 4, in their home in Erith, South-East London, shortly after his partner received a terminal diagnosis of motor neurone disease in December 2015. He attacked his partner with a small axe in the kitchen while she was bent over, striking her head repeatedly until she was unconscious and dead. He then killed each boy in turn with heavy, deliberate, repeated blows from a blunt instrument and by cutting and stabbing them with a bladed weapon. He wrapped the bodies in plastic, buried them in the garden, cleaned the house, partially painted to cover bloodstains, and sent fake messages from his partner's phone to relatives. He fled to Ghana, where he was arrested on January 9, 2016, and extradited to Britain.

Dempsey Nibbs killed his wife on 10-11 April 2014 in their flat in Shoreditch, east London, after discovering her infidelity. He battered her with an iron bar, decapitated her with a knife because her eyes remained open after death, and attempted to flush her head down the toilet, later smashing it with a hammer. He called the police and tried to kill himself upon their arrival. The attack was motivated by jealousy, revenge, and anger over her affairs and financial actions.

Paul Mallin killed his ex-girlfriend and her 86-year-old fiancé in brutal circumstances at Fernways sheltered housing unit in Cecil Road, Ilford, on September 5, 2015. Motivated by anger over her choosing her fiancé over him, Mallin had previously stabbed her fiancé's wall with a knife, spat at him, and searched online more than 300 times for poisons, including 'poison that doesn’t show up in an autopsy' and references to 'Ricin' from the TV show Breaking Bad. On the night of the incident, he attempted to force entry into her fiancé's flat armed with a knife and a meat cleaver, stabbing her fiancé multiple times while he tried to defend the door, and then stabbing her, who was disabled and witnessed the attack from her armchair.

Jamal McLaughlin was involved in the initial kidnapping of a man in his 30s from a barber's shop in west London on June 18, 2015, over a £2,500 debt. He helped bundle the victim into a van and drive him around while demanding payment, leading to the subsequent torture at a house in Uxbridge, which lasted three days until police rescue on June 20, 2015.

Derek Johnston was part of a gang that kidnapped a man in his 30s from a barber's shop in west London on June 18, 2015, due to an alleged debt. The victim was transported to a house in Uxbridge, where he endured binding with electrical wires, beatings with an iron bar and a computer monitor, stabbings with kitchen knives, and burns from heated metal forks over three days, ending with a police intervention on June 20, 2015.

Darren Vassell, along with others, kidnapped a man in his 30s from a barber's shop in west London on June 18, 2015, over a claimed debt of £2,500. The victim was driven around, threatened, and taken to a house in Uxbridge, where he was bound, beaten with an iron bar, stabbed with kitchen knives, and burned with heated metal forks over three days. The ordeal ended with a police raid on June 20, 2015.

Jason Conroy strangled the victim, an 18-year-old resident, at Alexandra House care home in Bristol in October 2014. Conroy had a history of violent and sexualised behaviour, including prior attempts to kill others, and was moved to the care home despite known risks. The killing was sexually motivated, and he was caught and sentenced for the crime.

On August 6th, 2013, Alex Henry was shopping with friends when two friends were confronted by two brothers and two others. Henry approached, picked up a dropped mobile, threw it at one attacker, and attempted to punch another. His friend Cameron Ferguson stabbed one brother fatally and wounded the other brother. Henry and Janhelle Grant-Murray were convicted of murder and wounding.

On 10 October 2011, Nicole Thomas, who had a prior manslaughter conviction for killing her mother in 2005 on grounds of diminished responsibility, suffered a relapse. She left Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, travelled to Bexleyheath, purchased a knife at Asda, attempted to slash one victim at a bus stop causing injury, then entered a butchers' shop to take another knife, and attacked another victim in a parkland area, inflicting fatal wounds to the face, head, and neck. The second victim died at the scene. Thomas admitted the acts but claimed diminished responsibility due to schizoaffective disorder or schizophrenia; the prosecution argued personality disorder. She was arrested shortly after, having stated she thought she had killed someone.

Sandra King, 62, of Romford, plunged a knife through the heart of her cousin, 68-year-old cancer victim Jacqueline Oberlin, in a drunken row at the victim's flat in Dagenham in February 2012. King pretended the death was a suicide due to the victim's fear of upcoming surgery. She was trapped by her own words on the 999 call recording where she admitted 'I f*****g killed her' and 'She f*****g deserved it' after forgetting to replace the receiver.

Mohamed Boudjenane, an illegal immigrant from Algeria, raped a Filipino nanny, shaved off her hair, and falsely accused her of an affair with his neighbour the victim. On February 3, 2012, he murdered the victim by striking him in the head with a hammer and decapitated the body with a meat cleaver. He was captured on CCTV carrying the head in a plastic bag on a bus to the Regents Canal in Maida Vale, west London, on February 5, 2012, where he disposed of it. The headless corpse was discovered wrapped in a duvet behind a supermarket in Kilburn on February 6, 2012. Boudjenane fled to Derby but was arrested on February 7, 2012. He claimed no memory of the events due to depression and hearing voices.

Piotr Kulik murdered the victim, 38, in December 2010 after a disagreement about money for helping to strip and sell scrap metal from a derelict building in Barnfield Road, Wembley. The argument turned violent, with Kulik kicking and slapping the victim, resulting in fatal head injuries.

Krzysztof Szafisz, along with Piotr Kulik, murdered the victim, 38, in December 2010 during a dispute about money for scrap metal in a derelict building in Barnfield Road, Wembley. The altercation involved kicking and slapping the victim, leading to his death from head injuries.

Chesham Walters, 29, and Jermell Josephs, 20, went to the victim's flat in Nevil House, Minet Road, Brixton, south London, on October 25, 2010, on the pretext of a drug deal. Once inside, they demanded money and cannabis. During a struggle, Walters grabbed a kitchen knife and stabbed the 35-year-old Rastafarian victim repeatedly to death in front of his girlfriend, who witnessed the killing and identified Walters as the knifeman at an ID parade.

Ossie James, 74, stabbed his 44-year-old son, the victim, in the heart with a kitchen knife during an argument at their home in Brockley, southeast London, on February 21, 2009. The dispute arose because the victim brought back chicken and chips instead of a Chinese takeaway as requested. James claimed his son attacked him like a raging bull, but he was convicted of manslaughter after a trial.

Omar Hussain, cousin of the victim, assisted in the cover-up of her 'honour killing' on 24 January 2006 by helping to stuff her tortured and strangled body into a suitcase after the murder in her parents' living room in Mitcham, South London. He travelled with family members to bury her remains in a pit in an abandoned house in Birmingham. He was extradited from Iraq three years after the initial convictions.

Mohamad Saleh Ali, cousin of the victim, assisted in the disposal of her body following her 'honour killing' on 24 January 2006, after she was tortured, raped, and strangled in her parents' living room in Mitcham, South London, for leaving her abusive marriage. He travelled with her father to Birmingham to bury her remains in a pit in an abandoned house. He was extradited from Iraq three years after the initial convictions.

Ricky Beesley, along with Tony Coyle and John Cotter, lured the victim to Cotter's flat in Mitcham on February 25, 2008, where they ambushed him over a debt. They sliced off his ear, stabbed him in the thigh, and threw him out into the street, leading to his death from massive blood loss, cardiac arrests, and a stroke four days later.

John Cotter, along with Ricky Beesley and Tony Coyle, lured the victim to his flat in Mitcham on February 25, 2008, where they attacked him by slicing off his ear, stabbing him in the thigh, and ejecting him, causing fatal injuries that led to the victim's death.

Tony Coyle, along with Ricky Beesley and John Cotter, ambushed the victim in Cotter's flat in Mitcham on February 25, 2008, slicing off his ear, stabbing him in the thigh, and throwing him out, resulting in the victim's death from injuries sustained.

James Hopkins, 42, murdered the victim, a 23-year-old transsexual prostitute, by stabbing her nine times in her flat in Marylebone, west London, on February 28, 1997. He entered the flat with the intent to steal her property, including pages from a filofax containing names of celebrity clients for a blackmail plot, and possibly drugs. The victim was HIV-positive and did not offer full sex services. Hopkins left bloody palm prints at the scene, which were matched to him in 2007 due to advances in fingerprint technology. He had prior convictions for taking a vehicle without consent and theft.

Michael Alleyne, along with Jade Braithwaite and Juress Kika, murdered the 16-year-old victim in Islington, north London, in the early hours of June 29, 2008. The attack stemmed from a dispute at Shillibeers bar in Holloway where Braithwaite felt disrespected. After a mass brawl, Braithwaite recruited Kika and Alleyne for revenge. They chased a rival group down North Road, isolated the victim who was trying to escape, knocked him to the ground, and stabbed him eleven times in five seconds, including a fatal wound to the heart that split his third rib. The victim, a straight-A student celebrating the end of his exams, pleaded he had done nothing wrong.

Jade Braithwaite, along with Juress Kika and Michael Alleyne, murdered the 16-year-old victim in Islington, north London, in the early hours of June 29, 2008. The attack stemmed from a dispute at Shillibeers bar in Holloway where Braithwaite felt disrespected. After a mass brawl, Braithwaite recruited Kika and Alleyne for revenge. They chased a rival group down North Road, isolated the victim who was trying to escape, knocked him to the ground, and stabbed him eleven times in five seconds, including a fatal wound to the heart that split his third rib. The victim, a straight-A student celebrating the end of his exams, pleaded he had done nothing wrong.