Life sentence?
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2012 9:21 pm
Stop the world, I want to get off....
A murderer and rapist has been given a total of 23 life terms, following new sentences for a sex attack on a woman in her home.
Kenneth Shirley, 42, tied the woman to her bed, gagged her and attacked her with a knife and other objects.
The woman was left so traumatised by the attack in December 2005 that she did not tell police until last year.
Sentencing Shirley to 16 new life sentences, the judge said he would probably never be released from jail.
Mr Justice Astill said: "You must appreciate that the nature of these offences, and the murder and rape convictions that went before them, may well result - and probably should result - in you remaining in custody for the remainder of your life."
Shirley, known by his middle name Mark, is already serving six life sentences imposed for the near-identical sex attack on Helen Stockford in Bristol in 2009.
He had been released on licence from prison in 2003 after serving 16 years of a life sentence for the ritualistic murder of Mary Wainwright, 67, in Cardiff in 1987.
The authorities recalled him in June 2004 but he was released again the following October.
Shirley was recalled to prison in January 2007 for again breaching the terms of his parole.
In September 2008 he was released on licence for a third time.
Jurors at Bristol Crown Court took six hours to find Shirley unanimously guilty of four charges of rape, 12 of sexual assault and a single allegation of wounding. The crimes took place between December 7 and 12, 2005.
The judge told him he would serve a minimum term of 16 years - but would probably never be released.