He battered ‘gentle’ homeless woman to death on church steps

An odd-job man who battered a homeless woman to death as she lay sleeping on the steps of a church has been jailed for life with a minimum of 18 years. Kieran Rifat, 22, murdered mother-of-three Kelly Stewart, 41, in revenge after having a row with her ex-boyfriend. He repeatedly stamped on her face and bludgeoned her with a rock before rifling through her pockets outside Barking Memorial Church in Plaistow, east London on 26 March last year. Rifat worked…