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Scream mask killer guilty
By SUN ONLINE REPORTER
Dressed in a white cloak and wearing a Scream mask, Heather Stephenson-Snell, 46, shot Robert Wilkie, 43, in the stomach with a sawn-off shotgun.
A jury at Manchester Crown Court found her guilty of one count of murder and one count of attempted murder.
Mr Justice Wakerley sentenced Stephenson-Snell to life imprisonment and said she would serve a minimum of 22 years for murder. The defendant showed no emotion when the verdict was read out.
On the night of Hallowe'en last year, Stephenson-Snell, of York, donned a Scream mask and a ghost costume and drove to Radcliffe, Manchester, to kill Diane Lomax, the girlfriend of her former lover.
The defendant had met former lover Adrian Sinclair when he responded to her advert in the Big Issue looking for a live-in dog-sitter.
She hired Mr Sinclair, a former stripper who appeared in sex videos, to look after her two Rottweilers and soon became involved in a sexual relationship with him.
But they later parted when Stephenson-Snell decided he was not suitable to look after her dogs.
When Mr Sinclair became involved with Ms Lomax, Stephenson-Snell became obsessed with him and bombarded the couple with abusive phone calls and death threats.
On the night of October 31 last year she drove to Ms Lomax's home in Radcliffe, concealing a sawn-off shotgun under her costume.
In an earlier hearing the jury heard how Stephenson-Snell had taken shooting lessons, worked out escape routes, devised disguises and researched her intended victim's home.Part of her plans, which were contained on hand-written index cards found by police, included an operation to frame Mr Sinclair for the killing.
Stephenson-Snell was knocking on the door of Ms Lomax's home when next-door neighbour Robert Wilkie came outside to see what the noise was and tried to pull off Stephenson-Snell's mask.She shot him at point blank range in the stomach and he died almost immediately.
Police stopped Stephenson-Snell as she drove along the M62 towards her home in York and found a bloodstained sheet and a shotgun in her car.
The defendant, who claims her father wrote the novel The Wicker Man and was a British spy, had denied the charges of murder and attempted murder.
Mr Justice Wakerley said Stephenson-Snell, a psychotherapist, suffered from a personality disorder.
He described her as a self-dramatist who had an exaggerated expression of emotions and was always seeking to be the centre of attention.He added: 'Your lies were breathtaking and shameless and I note that you have shown absolutely no hint of remorse at what you have done.'You knew perfectly well what you were doing.'
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004440503,00.html
By SUN ONLINE REPORTER
Dressed in a white cloak and wearing a Scream mask, Heather Stephenson-Snell, 46, shot Robert Wilkie, 43, in the stomach with a sawn-off shotgun.
A jury at Manchester Crown Court found her guilty of one count of murder and one count of attempted murder.
Mr Justice Wakerley sentenced Stephenson-Snell to life imprisonment and said she would serve a minimum of 22 years for murder. The defendant showed no emotion when the verdict was read out.
On the night of Hallowe'en last year, Stephenson-Snell, of York, donned a Scream mask and a ghost costume and drove to Radcliffe, Manchester, to kill Diane Lomax, the girlfriend of her former lover.
The defendant had met former lover Adrian Sinclair when he responded to her advert in the Big Issue looking for a live-in dog-sitter.
She hired Mr Sinclair, a former stripper who appeared in sex videos, to look after her two Rottweilers and soon became involved in a sexual relationship with him.
But they later parted when Stephenson-Snell decided he was not suitable to look after her dogs.
When Mr Sinclair became involved with Ms Lomax, Stephenson-Snell became obsessed with him and bombarded the couple with abusive phone calls and death threats.
On the night of October 31 last year she drove to Ms Lomax's home in Radcliffe, concealing a sawn-off shotgun under her costume.
In an earlier hearing the jury heard how Stephenson-Snell had taken shooting lessons, worked out escape routes, devised disguises and researched her intended victim's home.Part of her plans, which were contained on hand-written index cards found by police, included an operation to frame Mr Sinclair for the killing.
Stephenson-Snell was knocking on the door of Ms Lomax's home when next-door neighbour Robert Wilkie came outside to see what the noise was and tried to pull off Stephenson-Snell's mask.She shot him at point blank range in the stomach and he died almost immediately.
Police stopped Stephenson-Snell as she drove along the M62 towards her home in York and found a bloodstained sheet and a shotgun in her car.
The defendant, who claims her father wrote the novel The Wicker Man and was a British spy, had denied the charges of murder and attempted murder.
Mr Justice Wakerley said Stephenson-Snell, a psychotherapist, suffered from a personality disorder.
He described her as a self-dramatist who had an exaggerated expression of emotions and was always seeking to be the centre of attention.He added: 'Your lies were breathtaking and shameless and I note that you have shown absolutely no hint of remorse at what you have done.'You knew perfectly well what you were doing.'
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2004440503,00.html
