Jailed killer murders
girlfriend

A convicted murderer who killed his girlfriend
by beating her round the head with a brick
while on day-release from prison has been
sentenced to a second life term.

Mark Leicester, 38, pleaded guilty at Leicester
Crown Court to battering mother-of-two
Margaret Thomson to death in April last year.

The pair met at a charity event at Sudbury
open prison, Ashbourne, Derbyshire.

At the time, Leicester was being prepared for
release after serving 11 years for the rape,
strangulation and stabbing of his previous
girlfriend, 22-year-old Lynne Jones, in Cheshire
in 1988.

‘Life should mean life’

Sentencing Leicester to life on Tuesday, Mr
Justice Tucker said: “When making my
recommendation of how long you should serve,
I will have to consider that you may be so
dangerous that in this case life should mean
life.”

He added: “You are an angry, possessive and
jealous man and a danger to any woman who
may be tempted to form a relationship with
you.”

The court heard how Ms Thomson, 38, of the
Chaddesden area of Derby, had slipped her
phone number to Leicester during the charity
event.

Richard Wakeley QC,
prosecuting, told the
court Leicester was
allowed day-release
from Sudbury to work
at a local community
centre.

Mr Wakeley said: “He
would finish work at
around 3pm and did not have to be back at
the prison until 6pm – he used the time
between to start a regular association with Ms
Thomson.”

He said that in March 1999 the two had got
engaged.

However, Leicester discovered that Ms
Thomson was still in regular contact with the
father of her youngest daughter, John
Casement.

Mr Wakeley said: “Mr Casement lived in
Scotland. The defendant became suspicious
and jealous of her visits to see him when she
would take her young daughter.”

In early April Ms Thomson again arranged a
visit to Mr Casement so he could see his
seven-year-old daughter.

‘Just snapped’

Ms Thomson returned to Derby and told
Leicester she planned to finish their
relationship and move to Scotland. He became
distressed and told her he was going to go on
the run.

That night the pair stayed at a flat belonging
to Ms Thomson’s elder daughter, 17-year-old
Marie, also in the Chaddesden area.

The court heard that in the morning Leicester
claimed, in police interview, Ms Thomson had
laughed at him and he had “just snapped”.

There was a house brick in the flat which Marie
Thomson had been pressing flowers with, and
Leicester used it to beat Ms Thomson around
the head, causing fatal injuries.

He then covered her with a duvet and left the
house.

He went on the run, but after a huge
man-hunt was launched, two days later,
walked into Rhyl police station in North Wales
and gave himself up.

After Tuesday’s hearing, Michael Cudworth, Ms
Thomson’s first husband and father of Marie,
said: “Until we know what the judge’s
recommendation is, it will be hard to accept
what has happened.

“This is a person who should be taken out of
society and if that means hanging then so be
it.”

He also called for tighter checks on prisoners
being given day release when they were
coming to the end of their sentences.

“I do not think that Leicester duped the
authorities at all – they were just lax.

“If someone like this can walk around for hours
with no checks being made, who knows what
they could be doing.”