An evil sex beast who murdered a public schoolgirl
An evil sex beast who murdered a public schoolgirl back at his flat after bouncers refused to let her back into a nightclub with her friends was jailed for life at the Old Bailey today.
(thurs)
Warped Matthew Howick, 30, lured the Millfield School sixth former Ashleigh Robinson back to his home, after chatting her up outside Cindarella’s nightclub in Guildford, Surrey.
There the powerfully-built brute battered the schoolgirl, bound and gagged her with sellotape, strangled her with a ligature, and finally, in an act of ‘defilement or contempt’ sexually assaulted her.
Prosector Mr Mark Dennis said it was a ‘cruel twist of fate’ that 17-year-old Ashleigh’s path crossed with bespectacled Howick, who was out and about in the town that night.
Mr Dennis explained that doormen at the club had asked Ashleigh to go outside because she was worse the wear for drink.
‘Why they did not ask her to sit in the foyer or the side room is not known.
It is something only they can answer,’ he added.
The court was told that shortly after 8am on April 13 last year Ashleigh’s battered naked corpse was found found lying in a driveway opposite Guildford civic centre.
‘She was lying spread eagle on her back with the black dress she had been wearing the night before placed over the lower part of her face.
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Mr Dennis said it was clear Ashleigh had sustained a ‘prolonged and violent assault’ before she was strangled with a ligature and carried some way before her body was dumped.
She had received repeated blows to her head and injuries to her face and chin were consistent with a kick ‘delivered with a shod foot.
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Detailing the gruesome injuries Mr Dennis added that Howick had also stamped on her lower abdomen and ‘a dirty imprint of a shoe was still visible on her bare skin.
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During the attack she had been gagged while her wrists and ankles were bound with sellotape.
The prosecutor continued: ‘Her dress had been literally cut off her body no doubt because the bindings prevented it being removed in any other way.
Her knickers had also been cut in two during their removal.
‘Death finally caused by strangulation.
Imprints revealed two ligatures had been used during the attack and there was a manual act of strangulation.
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The court heard the killer used a piece of chord and a metal shower chord as ligatures.
‘In a final act of defilement or contempt for Ashleigh she had been subjected to a sexual assault with a blunt instrument,’ added Mr Dennis.
The court heard how at the time Ashleigh, was studying physics, chemistry and maths ‘A’ levels at the pnds stlg 15,000 a year school.
She hoped to go onto university and take courses in psychology and philosophy.
Ashleigh, from Axbridge, Somerset, had travelled over to Guildford by train to stay with fellow Millfield pupil Tania Robinson, who had organised a party for 47 friends at Cinderella’s.
Jobless Howick, of Dean Road, Guildford, admitted murder.
Six-foot-four-inch tall Howick, who weighs 18 stone, showed no emotion throughout the hearing.
He was smartly dressed in a tie and jacket, stared blankly throughout in the nine minute hearing.
Passing sentence, Judge Geoffrey Grigson said: ‘It is to your credit and great credit that you have pleaded guilty and I accept that you feel genuine remorse.
‘I do not know what triggered your behaviour that night.
Ashleigh Robinson was drunk.
‘However drunk she mave been, nothing that she did or could have done could justify your response.
‘You snuffed out a a bright young light in a most terrible way.
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‘The sentence is mandatory.
It is one of life imprisonment.
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ends
addbeast.
