A person has been sentenced to an extra 15 years in jail – along with the 18 he has already served – for setting his associate on hearth and inflicting her demise 21 years later.
Steven Craig, 58, coated Jacqueline Kirk in petrol and set her alight in a carpark in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset in April 1998.
He served greater than 18 years in jail for the assault however following her demise in August 2019 he was arrested once more and charged together with her homicide. He was discovered responsible of that cost by a jury at Bristol Crown Court final month.
At sentencing on Thursday, Judge Mrs Justice Stacey described Craig’s conduct as “sadistic” and the assault as “planned and premeditated”, handing him a complete minimal time period of 34 years.
“Your conduct was sadistic – deliberately setting her head and chest on fire the way you did,” she instructed him.
“Anyone who uses petrol must be aware of the level of seriousness of their actions. It was just so callous and so brutal.”
She added: “You had no intention to kill Jacquie. But in your case this has reduced significance almost to vanishing point, because the risk of her dying from what you did to her was so obvious.”
Craig’s trial heard that the 1998 assault resulted in 35% burns to Ms Kirk’s physique and left her needing 14 operations, together with pores and skin grafts and a tracheotomy.
She lived to the age of 61 and was in a position to see each of her kids get married and develop into a grandmother.
But she died the day after she was admitted to the Royal Bath Hospital in 2019, with medical doctors refusing to function on her as a result of her frailty.
Victim was ‘exceptional and spectacular lady’
Mrs Justice Stacey paid tribute to Ms Kirk, who was solely anticipated to reside for 10 years as a result of her accidents, however “against the odds survived for more than twice of that”.
“With the help of her family, she was determined to lead as full a life as she could,” she mentioned. “What a remarkable and impressive woman she must have been.”
But because of the extent of her accidents, it was a “demi-life”, that left her suicidal at occasions, she mentioned.
“She was always in pain and suffered from depression and nightmares.
“Her accidents and disfigurement had been horrific. Breathing was tough, consuming and ingesting had been onerous.
“She suffered abuse in the street because of the extent of her facial scarring.”
Enjoyed watching torture scene in Reservoir Dogs
Detailing the run-up to the 1998 assault, the decide mentioned Ms Kirk had taken Craig into her residence when he was homeless and scuffling with drink and medicines.
After the pair entered right into a relationship he was usually violent, “cracking her cheekbone” on one event, and “frequently threatening to kill her”.
Three days earlier than the petrol assault, he had locked her in a railway station rest room, leaving her trapped for hours earlier than a cleaner let her go.
Craig usually watched a torture scene from the movie Reservoir Dogs, the decide mentioned, including: “You enjoyed acting like the characters in the film.”
The couple had been travelling from Bath to Plymouth once they stopped in Weston-super-Mare, the courtroom heard.
During the automotive journey, Craig tortured Ms Kirk with a pretend story {that a} employed murderer known as “Charlie” from York was coming to kill her.
“She was very scared, because she knew your capacity for violence,” Mrs Stacey mentioned.
“There is no doubt that you planned to engage in a monstrous attack on that road trip with whatever means at your disposal.”
After stopping at a petroleum station to fill a coke bottle with gas, Craig punched Ms Kirk within the face and poured the petrol over her head.
She received out of the automotive, believing it might be safer, and he taunted her by asking if she wished a cigarette.
Ms Kirk was set alight by a lighter and dropped to the bottom, the courtroom heard.
When police turned concerned Craig “lied” to them, the decide mentioned, and was extra involved for his personal security than his sufferer’s.
Previous convictions, together with rape and GBH of one other associate
After spending seven months in hospital and listening to he had dedicated rape and grievous bodily hurt in opposition to one other lady he was in a relationship with, Ms Kirk instructed police what occurred, the courtroom heard.
Craig, who should serve a minimal of 15 years earlier than being thought of for launch by the parole board, had a string of earlier convictions.
His trial was instructed he was hooked on medicine by the point he was 21 and regardless of expressing a “desire to practice abstinence” whereas in jail, had usually blamed alcohol and generally his victims for his crimes.
Prosecutor Richard Smith KC had instructed the jury they didn’t want to seek out Ms Kirk’s accidents had been the primary explanation for her demise – simply that the contribution made by them was “more than minimal”.
Craig admitted accountability for the assault – however not her demise.
If he’s ever launched he will probably be on licence for the remainder of his life.
Source: information.sky.com”