London [UK], May 25: A killer in England who boasted he had "got away with it" after being cleared of murdering an escort 30 years ago has finally been found guilty of the crime.
Lorry driver David Smith, 67, went on to commit an almost identical murder of another sex worker, Amanda Walker, 21, in 1999 after he was acquitted of killing Sarah Crump, 33, in 1993.
Both women were mutilated by Smith, who was known to colleagues as the "Honey Monster" or "Lurch" because of his height and heavy build.
Smith had thanked the jury as he left court when he was cleared of Crump's 1991 murder after his defence counsel accused police of suppressing evidence and incompetence.
Police emphatically denied the defence allegation and said they were not looking for anyone else.
Smith was finally found guilty of murdering MCrump at her one-bedroom flat in Southall, west London, at Inner London Crown Court on Wednesday after Court of Appeal judges ordered a retrial.
He showed no emotion when he was found guilty after less than three hours of deliberation. He will be sentenced on Friday.
Crump's older sisters Joanne Platt and Suzanne Wright, who were in court for the verdict, said in a short statement: "At long last justice for our lovely Sarah. If only mum and dad were here with us today to share this momentous occasion."
Smith is already serving a life sentence for Walker's murder after being found guilty in 1999.
His latest trial heard that while on remand, awaiting trial for Walker's murder, Smith boasted to another inmate he had already faced trial for murder previously but had "walked."
"He said that they got no evidence on him and that he got away with it," the prisoner said.
Smith's case was referred to the Court of Appeal and was sent for a fresh trial following a change in the law on double jeopardy in 2003.
He denied a single charge of murder but did not give evidence.
Prosecutor William Boyce KC told a jury how Crump's murder in the early hours of August 29 1991 was part of his "escalating pattern of violent and sexual offending against women" dating back to his teenage years in the 1970s.
Source: Qatar Tribune
