MULTIPLE MURDERER REPEATEDLY LET OFF FOR PREVIOUS CRIMES

To start the story:

A man has admitted to the murders of twin sisters and an elderly couple in North Yorkshire last summer. Mark Hobson, 35, killed his girlfriend Claire Sanderson and her sister Diane, and James and Joan Britton. The twins were found in a flat in Camblesforth, near Selby, on 18 July - the Brittons were found later that day at their home in Strensall, near York. Paul Worsley, prosecuting, said: "The circumstances surrounding these deaths are horrific and chilling." The judge, Mr Justice Grigson, said he would sentence Hobson on 27 May. He faces life imprisonment.

Leeds Crown Court was told in a statement from the twins' parents, George and Jackie Sanderson: "They were our life, the reason we lived and worked. Now they are gone we have nothing." Catherine Wilkins, a daughter of the Brittons, said her parents were elderly, but Hobson did not have the right to say when and how they would die.

The court was shown handwritten notes made by Hobson which suggested he had planned the murders and was even planning to kill the twins' parents. One note listed items used in the killings - another was a reminder for Hobson to ring Diane, who was lured to the house. She was battered and subjected to a "macabre and bizarre" sexual attack, Mr Worsley said. He said Hobson's friend Ian Harrison, who was Diane's boyfriend, came to his house and noticed the smell of the decomposing bodies.


And here is the background to the story. A previous attempted murder got only "community service":

Two years before the killings, Hobson stabbed William Brace, 31, a father of two, in daylight outside an off-licence in Selby. Mr Brace needed emergency surgery after Hobson plunged a knife into his stomach five times in front of horrified shoppers during a row over a woman. Hobson, who admitted wounding with intent to cause grievous bodily harm, was freed on bail for pre-sentence reports at York Crown Court. He went on the run for nine months before he was re-arrested and sentenced at Leeds Crown Court to 100 hours' community work and two years' probation.

The sentence did little to change his behaviour. Five months before the killing, he stole his sister's 18-carat gold wedding and nine-carat engagement rings after his mother had refused to give him money. He pawned them at a jeweller's shop for œ25 which he spent on lager. When his sister discovered they were missing, she immediately suspected her brother and called in police who recovered the items. Hobson, who admitted theft and deception, told the court in Selby he planned to buy them back when he got a job. Magistrates deferred sentencing him for six months to give him a chance to stay out of trouble.

He was made the subject of a 50-hour community service order when he re-appeared at the same court in February last year and was ordered to pay the jeweller œ25 compensation with œ50 costs.


(And don't forget your ration of Wicked Thoughts for today)