I Despair

[Fulham Broadway 17,333]

Man guilty of 'first date' murder Kate Beagley's body was found in woodland in HertfordshireA fitness instructor who said a woman stabbed herself 31 times while on a first date with him has been found guilty of her murder.

Karl Taylor, 27, of Covent Garden, London, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 30 years at the Old Bailey for killing Kate Beagley.

Miss Beagley, a 32-year-old manager from Surrey, was found with head and neck wounds in a wood in Hertfordshire.

Taylor told the court she committed suicide using a knife he dropped.

Miss Beagley's naked body was found four days later dumped in Oxhey Wood.

She had been driven there by Taylor in the boot of her grey VW Golf car, which he told police he had intended to steal when he met Miss Beagley.

The prosecution told the court he went on the date intending to murder her, hiding the knife up his sleeve as the two of them sat in the Roebuck pub in Richmond Hill.

Taylor told police he just wanted Miss Beagley's car

First date tragedyLies of a killer

The couple had met a few days earlier at a nightclub in London and exchanged telephone numbers.

However, police were later told, by a woman who shared a table with the couple during their date, that Miss Beagley made no effort to talk to Taylor and appeared to be ignoring him.

Taylor stabbed Miss Beagley to death as they sat on a park bench at a beauty spot overlooking the River Thames at Richmond.

Peter Clarke QC, prosecuting, said Taylor told police he stabbed her during an argument after telling her: "All I want is your car."

The court heard he then told detectives: "She pushed me away. She was grabbing me and I stabbed her in the throat.

"I constantly and consistently cut her in the neck because she was going for my face."

'Hysterical'

Taylor stripped her body and washed it with mineral water before dumping it.

Mr Clarke said Taylor threw the murder weapon, her clothing and unwanted belongings on the roadside by the M1.

Kate was a loving, thoughtful daughter, sister and friend, as devoted to us all as we were to her

Alan Beagley

He later showed off his "new car" to friends and family and sold Miss Beagley's mobile phone to a friend.

But giving evidence in court, Taylor told the Old Bailey Miss Beagley had stabbed herself more than 30 times.

He said: "I saw her prodding herself and she was moving her head and her neck towards the knife like you would do if you were hysterical."

He said that after she finished, he realised she had died.

A letter Taylor wrote to Miss Beagley's parents, which was never passed to them, was read out in court.

In it he described Kate as "a kind but unhappy girl" and "an angel in the dark".

He added: "Without any doubt what I did was wrong. But ask yourself this - whose life have I really taken?"

'Foul deed'

Jailing Taylor, Judge Giles Forrester said: "You took advantage of the vulnerability of that girl for your own ends.

"Having carried out this foul deed, you took away and callously concealed this body, adding to the distress of her family and friends."

Speaking outside court, Miss Beagley's father, Alan, said his family's lives had been turned upside down by her death.

"Kate was a loving, thoughtful daughter, sister and friend, as devoted to us all as we were to her," he said.

"She was great fun to be with and is missed tremendously by everyone who knew her. She had a gung-ho approach to life and lived it to the full.

"We cherish and are grateful for all the memories of the wonderful times we spent together."

Det Ch Insp Mark Preston-Heard added: "This was a tragic and senseless loss of life.

"Kate was a totally innocent young woman who had her life cut short when she had so much to live for."

Absolute scum. Hopefully will get a really good kicking in prison.

[MikeCFC 45]

Don't you worry Greg,he will get his beatings inside.

And i do hope that life means LIFE.

If David Cameron has his way the cunt will probably get a hug and a three grand grant .

[Fulham Broadway 17,333]

I mean can you imagine what her parents must have gone through ??

Never advocated the death penalty, but some bastards deserve it.

[MikeCFC 45]

I mean can you imagine what her parents must have gone through. Never advocated the death penalty, but some bastards deserve it.

I'm with you on that mate.The death penalty does have it's pros and cons but if i was a screw i certainly would'nt want the responsibility of flicking that switch,and i'm sure he'll get his hardships from the mob in D-Wing,thus learning the hard way,rather than the easy way out by death.

[Elliott 7]

I had to laugh at his defence...

"She stabbed herself 31 times with a knife that I happened to drop"

Absolutely moronic!

[Drogba11CFC 108]

If there had been a lie detector in court, the explosion would have gotten him arrested for terrorism...

If I was prime minister, I'd bring back torture just to be used on him. Cunt. Worse than Scousers.

[Fulham Broadway 17,333]

I had to laugh at his defence...

"She stabbed herself 31 times with a knife that I happened to drop"

Absolutely moronic!

Makes you wonder how his lawyer kept a straight face with that defence. The fucker would have got his lawyer paid for by our taxes as well.

[MikeCFC 45]

About as a moronic lie as that Dickie bloke that said he had sex with the dead corpse of Sally Ann Bowden,when he was the one that killed her.

I don't know who's more sick,the bastard scum that commit these heinous acts,or the laywers that buy or help them concoct these lies.

Scum,the lot of them.

[Fulham Broadway 17,333]

That Dixie blokes defence said ''he came across Sally Annes body (that had been stabbed several times and covered in blood) and decided to have sex with her''.

Her parents have to sit through that garbage.

[Elliott 7]

I do have to wonder what's going through these imbecile's minds when they concoct up these rubbish defences? Isn't it the norm that if you come clean and plead guilty you get a lesser sentence? Why wouldn't you take that when all you can come up with is some bollocks about dropping knives or stumbling across dead naked bodies?

Their sentences aren't nearly long enough.

[Drogba11CFC 108]

I reckon he should serve 96 years and pay a fine of 1800 billion billion pounds.

[MikeCFC 45]

I do have to wonder what's going through these imbecile's minds when they concoct up these rubbish defences? Isn't it the norm that if you come clean and plead guilty you get a lesser sentence? Why wouldn't you take that when all you can come up with is some bollocks about dropping knives or stumbling across dead naked bodies?

Their sentences aren't nearly long enough.

Plea bargining Elliott.Works well in America apparantley,but i'm not for it at all.

Life should mean life and their 'human rights' taken away from them.And if leftie gobshites like Shami Shakabati want to challenge that,they should be locked up as well.End of.

[Elliott 7]

That really bugs me when they sentence someone for life, but it's in reality 20 years. If you're gonna say life, it should damn well mean it, ie until they die! Prisons are far too soft too, wouldn't be so bad if they were in any competent at rehabilitation but apparently they aren't.

[MikeCFC 45]

That really bugs me when they sentence someone for life, but it's in reality 20 years. If you're gonna say life, it should damn well mean it, ie until they die! Prisons are far too soft too, wouldn't be so bad if they were in any competent at rehabilitation but apparently they aren't.

That's the whole meaning of Prison Elliott,correction, and for the less heinous crimes rehabilitation so when a criminal leaves prison they will go straight.

Prison's today to seem too soft,unlike the prison's in America and other parts of the World where their prison's you would'nt wish on your worse enemy.

i watched Midnight Express when i was a teenager and that was enough to put me off prison.

[Elliott 7]

That's the whole meaning of Prison Elliott,correction, and for the less heinous crimes rehabilitation so when a criminal leaves prison they will go straight.

Oh I agree, but I mean our prisons don't seem too succesful with this so far.

[MikeCFC 45]

Oh I agree, but I mean our prisons don't seem too succesful with this so far.

You can blame two things on that my friend.The PC Brigade and the demise of common sense.All manifested by,you've guessed right.....New Labour.

Welcome to nodding dog Great Britain.