A MONSTER who killed his ex and her new boyfriend while mutilating his body has been jailed for life.
Katie Higton, 27, was “ferociously and mercilessly” murdered alongside Steven Harnett, 25, inside her home in Huddersfield in May last year.
PAKatie Higton was murdered at her home last year[/caption]
Her new partner Steven Harnett was also killedBen Lack
MEN MediaKatie’s ex Marcus Osborne has today been locked up for life over the double killings[/caption]
The mum’s ex Marcus Osborne, 35, brutally attacked the pair, launching on them when they arrived home.
His vicious knifing left Katie with 99 injuries.
Osborne then launched at her new lover, leaving his body mutilated and covered in 24 wounds.
The killer has today been thrown behind bars for life, after last year admitting to two counts of murder.
He had also pleaded guilty to the false imprisonment and rape of another woman on the same evening.
One family member yelled “I hope you rot in hell” as Osborne was taken away at Leeds Crown Court.
At the time of the killing, Osborne said: “Romeo and Juliet can die together.”
It was heard that he had been released from prison just days before committing the violent crimes.
Osborne was jailed in 2013 for four years and ten months after he broke a previous girlfriend’s jaw in three places when she ended their relationship.
He was caged again for 16 weeks in 2015 after attacking another girlfriend, again when she split-up with him.
Osborne told that woman she would “end up in a box” if she finished with him.
Both Katie and partner Steven were knifed to death during the horror attack, which came just hours after a cinema date.
She had shared a smiling selfie on her Snapchat just 12 hours before police found her dead in her own home.
As she walked inside on that horror night, Katie’s ex launched at her.
Osborne was heard saying: “I warned you I was going to kill you … this is your fault this is happening.”
Katie’s former brother-in-law told how his sibling dated the mum for seven years and was the dad of her oldest two children.
He said the children were “in the property when the incident took place”.
How long is a life sentence in the UK?
Life sentences are dished out to offenders who commit the most heinous crimes, including murder, rape and armed robbery.
Judges decide the minimum number of years a prisoner will serve of their life term on a case-by-case basis.
In many instances, this is a minimum of 15 years without chance of parole.
Unlike whole life orders, inmates have the ability to have their cases reviewed, which ultimately means they could get out of jail.
Offenders who have a fixed term or determinate sentence are likely to be released halfway through their sentence if they are not deemed a risk to the public.
In these cases, a parole board is not involved.
But prisoners who have been given terms of four years or more or who have committed serious or violent crimes must be reviewed before release.
Inmates with life and indeterminate sentences will be contacted three years before their tariff runs out.
The Parole Board then determines whether or not the offender will be granted release – a decision that typically takes six months to be reached.
Prisoners who are sentenced to a whole life order must serve their time without the possibility of parole.
They can only be issued to those who committed their crimes when they were over the age of 21.
While whole life orders mean that inmates will by kept incarcerated until death, this doesn’t happen in every case.
The Home Secretary may grant release in exceptional circumstances, such as if a prisoner is of a great age or in ill health.
In other instances, the Court of Appeal can also over-turn whole life orders.
Katie was previously in a relationship with Osborne after they met at the gym where he worked in 2018.
One pal claimed the controlling personal trainer cut her off from her male friends and rifled through her social media.
A week before the murders, he sent a chilling message to the friend warning him not to speak to Katie anymore.
In the days before the murders, Katie told West Yorkshire Police Osborne had told her “he would slit her throat if she said what he had done,” and that “if she ever got a boyfriend he would kill them both”.
The force said previously it had referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) following prior contact with the “parties involved”.
Speaking today, Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC said: “The defendant committed a premeditated and brutal double murder motivated by sexual jealousy, a desire to exercise control over Katie Higton, an unwillingness to accept her decision to leave him and her freedom to form a relationship with another man.”
Osborne also raped a woman in the house when he killed Katie and Steven.
The judge, Mrs Justice Lambert, imposed 10-year concurrent sentences for the rape and false imprisonment of the other woman in the house.
Everything you did was motivated by sex and your need to sexually humiliate and degrade.
Mrs Justice Lambert
She told Osborne: “There are no mitigating factors in your case other than your guilty plea. There is no psychiatric or other evidence placed before me to explain or help me understand your actions.
“This is a case of such exceptional seriousness that even a very long minimum term would not be a just punishment. What you did that night was horrific.”
The judge said the killings were “sexual in nature” and driven by Osborne’s “pathological jealousy”.
She told Osborne: “They were driven by your sexual jealousy arising from Katie’s decision to start a new relationship with Steven.
“I do not accept (the murders) are explained by your entrenched insecurity about being abandoned as a result of a neglected childhood.
“Everything you did was motivated by sex and your need to sexually humiliate and degrade.”
Mrs Justice Lambert said Katie’s murder was a “merciless and sustained attack on a woman who was completely defenceless”.
Ben LackOsborne had been released from prison days before he attacked the pair[/caption]
Ben LackKatie was found with 99 injuries[/caption]
Ben LackThe horror unfolded in May last year[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
