LONDON: Three people have been jailed for life for the “vile” torture and murder of a disabled woman in a case described as a “chronicle of heartlessness” by a senior judge.
Chantelle Booth, 22, received a minimum 21 year sentence with Daniel Newstead, 20, jailed for a minimum of 20 years and Joe Boyer, 18, for a minimum of 16 years for the murder of 27-year-old Gemma Hayter.
Jessica Lynas, 19, was jailed for 13 years and Duncan Edwards, 20, for 15 years for the manslaughter of Miss Hayter, whose body was found in August last year on a disused railway line in Rugby.
Miss Hayter, who had learning difficulties and was disabled, was forced to drink urine, hit with a mop and beaten in a flat before being escorted to a disused railway line where she was stripped naked, beaten and had a plastic bag put over her head, the court heard.
Lady Justice Rafferty, sentencing the five, all from Rugby, Warwickshire, described the case as a “chronicle of heartlessness”.
“It is difficult to find the words to express how vile your behaviour was in August 2010,” she said at the Old Bailey.
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