A man who murdered his ex-girlfriend and her new partner in an attack described as ‘ferocious and merciless’, has been jailed for life and told he will never be released.
Marcus Osborne, 35, murdered Katie Higton, 27, and Steven Harnett, 25, in May last year after he forced his way into the home he used to share with Higton as she returned from the cinema in Huddersfield.
Osborne inflicted 99 stab wounds including more than 20 to her face.
He then used her phone to lure Harnett to the home where he stabbed him 24 times and left him with mutilated genitals.
After the murder, he declared: “Romeo and Juliet can die together now.”
That same night of the murder, he also raped another woman who was in the home at the time and held her at knifepoint. For this, he was sentenced to 10 years for the rape and false imprisonment charges, to run concurrently.
Sentencing Osborne to a whole-life order at Leeds Crown Court on Friday, judge Mrs Justice Lambert told him: “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.”
Days before she was murdered, Katie Higton had told police she feared for her life.
She ended the relationship with Osborne after five years following domestic abuse being both physically violent and controlling.
Osborne has a history of domestic abuse as also convicted of violence against two previous partners in 2011 and 2012.
The judge said there were no mitigating factors other than a guilty plea. “The motivation for both killings was sexual in nature,” she said. “Both were driven by your sexual jealousy. I am sure you also engaged in sexual activity when Katie was either dead or dying.”
After the sentence was handed down, Steven Harnett’s family spoke out about how police had not done enough and are failing to protect the most vulnerable people in society, particularly when it comes to acting on domestic abuse reports.
West Yorkshire police have referred themselves to the police watchdog (IPOC) following the contact with the victim before the double murder.