Marcus Osborne gets life in prison for murdering ex and her lover and mutilating his body days after his release
A MONSTER who murdered his ‘beautiful’ ex and her new boyfriend while mutilating his body has been jailed for life.
Katie Higton, 27, was “ferocious and merciless” murdered next to Steven Harnett, 25, in her home Huddersfield in May last year.
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The mother’s ex, Marcus Osborne, 35, brutally attacked the pair when they arrived home.
His vicious knife work left Katie with 99 wounds.
Osborne then shot at her new lover, leaving his body mutilated and covered in 24 wounds.
The killer said today that, after last year, he will die in prison admitted to two murders.
He had also pleaded guilty that same evening to the false imprisonment and rape of another woman.
A relative shouted: “I hope you rot in hell” as Osborne was taken to Leeds Crown Court after being given the rare life order.
Katie’s loved ones paid tribute to her today, saying she was a “radiant, beautiful and deeply caring soul whose presence lit up any room”.
At the moment of the murder, the twisted Osborne said, “Romeo and Juliet can die together.”
It was learned that he had been released jail just days before the violent crimes were committed.
Osborne was sentenced to four years and 10 months in 2013 after breaking a previous girlfriend’s jaw in three places when she ended their relationship.
In 2015, he was locked up again for 16 weeks after assaulting another girlfriend, again during their break-up.
Osborne told that woman she would “end up in a box” when she was done with him.
Both Katie and partner Steven were stabbed to death in the horror attack, which happened just hours after a cinema date.
She had shared a smiling selfie on her Snapchat just 12 hours before police found her dead in her own home.
When she walked in that horror night, Katie’s ex stormed over to her.
Osborne was heard saying: “I warned you I was going to kill you… this is your fault this is happening.”
Katie’s former brother-in-law told how his sibling dated the mother for seven years and was the father of her eldest two children.
He said the children “were in the property when the incident occurred”.
How long is a life sentence in Britain?
Life sentences are handed out to offenders who commit the most heinous crimes, including murder, rape and armed robbery.
Judges determine the minimum number of years a prisoner can serve of his life sentence on a case-by-case basis.
In many cases this is impossible for at least 15 years conditional release.
Unlike life orders, inmates have the option to have their cases reviewed, which ultimately means they can get out of prison.
Offenders who are on a certain sentence or sentence are likely to be released halfway through their sentence if they are not considered a risk to the public.
In these cases there is no parole board.
But prisoners who have been sentenced to four years or more or who have committed serious or violent crimes must be investigated before being released.
Prisoners serving life and indefinite sentences will be contacted three years before their tariff expires.
The Parole Board then determines whether or not to release the offender – a decision that usually takes six months.
Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment must serve their time without the possibility of parole.
They can only be issued to those who committed their crimes when they were over 21 years old.
Although life orders mean that prisoners remain locked up until death, this does not happen in all cases.
The Home Secretary may authorize release under exceptional circumstances, for example if a prisoner is old or in poor health.
In other cases, the Court of Appeal can also quash life orders.
Katie previously dated Osborne after they met at the gym where he worked in 2018.
One friend claimed that the controlling personal trainer had cut her off from her male friends and searched her social media.
A week before the murders, he sent a chilling message to the friend warning him not to talk to Katie again.
In the days before the murders, Katie told West Yorkshire Police Osborne had said “he would slit her throat if she said what he had done”, and that “if she ever got a boyfriend he would kill them both”.
The force previously said it had referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) after earlier contact with the “involved parties”.
Chief Inspector Alan Weekes today said the watchdog was still investigating the matter.
Katie’s loved ones said outside court today: ‘Katie was a radiant, beautiful and deeply caring soul whose presence lit up every room from the moment she entered it.
“We are all still suffering that she was so brutally taken from us, none more so than her four beautiful children. Their fear is almost unbearable.
“There’s a lot we can say about the monster that Katie took from us. A man, if he can be called that, whose name doesn’t deserve to be mentioned even in the same breath as hers.
“His sentencing today will not change the life sentence he has inflicted on all of us.”
Everything you did was motivated by sex and your need to sexually humiliate and degrade.
Madam Justice Lambert
Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC said today: “The defendant committed a brutal, premeditated double murder motivated by sexual jealousy, a desire to control Katie Higton, an unwillingness to accept her decision to leave him and her freedom to start a relationship with him. another man.”
Osborne also raped a woman in the house when he murdered Katie and Steven.
The judge, Mrs Justice Lambert, imposed concurrent sentences of ten years for the rape and false imprisonment of the other woman in the house.
She told Osborne: ‘There are no mitigating factors in your case other than your guilty plea.
‘No psychiatric or other evidence has been presented to me that could explain or help me understand your actions.
“This is a case of such exceptional severity that even a very long minimum sentence would not be a just punishment. What you did that night was horrible.”
The judge said the killings were ‘sexual in nature’ and stemmed from Osborne’s ‘pathological jealousy’.
She told Osborne: “They were driven by your sexual jealousy which stemmed from Katie’s decision to start a new relationship with Steven.
‘I do not accept that the murders are explained by your deep-seated insecurity about being abandoned as a result of a neglected childhood.
“Everything you did was motivated by sex and your need to sexually humiliate and degrade.”
Ms Judge Lambert said Katie’s murder was a “merciful and sustained attack on a woman who was completely defenceless”.
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