Mark HOBSON

Classification: Spree killer
Characteristics: Mutilation
Number of victims: 4
Date of murders: July 18, 2004
Date of arrest: 7 days after
Date of birth: September 2, 1969
Victims profile: His girlfriend Claire Sanderson, 27, and her twin sister Diane / James, 80, and Joan Britton, 82
Method of murder: Stabbing with knife
Location: North Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
Status: Sentenced to life in prison on May 26, 2005

Mark Hobson (born 2 September 1969, in Wakefield, Yorkshire) is a British spree killer who killed his girlfriend and her twin sister in 2004 before killing an elderly couple who lived nearby. He later admitted four charges of murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he should never be released. He is serving his term in Wakefield Prison and is unlikely ever to be released. This was one of the first times such a recommendation had been made for someone who had admitted their crime at the first opportunity.

Murders

Hobson, who was 34 at the time of the murders, was a former binman from Selby, North Yorkshire. He killed his girlfriend Claire Sanderson, 27, and her twin sister Diane at a flat in the nearby village of Camblesforth. The twins' mutilated bodies were discovered by Diane's boyfriend on 18 July 2004. He subsequently murdered an elderly couple, James and Joan Britton, at their home in the village of Strensall, a few miles north of York.

Arrest and trial

Hobson was arrested at a petrol station on 25 July 2004, in the village of Shipton-by-Beningbrough, near York, following a nationwide manhunt. At his subsequent trial in April 2005, Hobson admitted all four murders. He was sentenced to life imprisonment on 27 May 2005.

The court was also told that Hobson had stabbed a love rival five times in the chest in a daylight attack in front of shoppers in Selby in 2002, leaving him with a punctured lung. Hobson had admitted grievous bodily harm and avoided a prison sentence, instead receiving a community punishment. This lenient sentence came under much criticism in the light of Hobson's later offending.

Appeal

Hobson lodged an appeal to a lower minimum sentence set, claiming that he should have been given a more lenient sentence because he had admitted all four murders at the earliest opportunity. He also backed up his case with the suggestion that no other murderer who admitted their crimes at the first opportunity had ever been recommended for lifelong imprisonment. This was not true, as a similar recommendation had been imposed on child killers Timothy Morss and Brett Tyler in 1996 even though they had admitted their crimes at the earliest opportunity.

The appeal was turned down by the Appeal Court after Lord Phillips agreed with the trial judge's recommendation, saying that his opinion that Hobson should never be released was inevitable, regardless of a guilty plea, as the murders had been so horrific.

Imprisonment

Shortly before this court case, Hobson was placed into solitary confinement for three months after attacking Ian Huntley (a former school caretaker convicted of murdering two female pupils at a Cambridgeshire school), and scalding him with a bucket of boiling water. A prison service spokesman said that, due to the nature of high-security prisoners, "it's impossible to prevent incidents of this nature occasionally happening."

In January 2006, letters were released from Wakefield Prison where Hobson blamed alcohol for his killing spree. It had been revealed at Hobson's trial that he was an alcoholic who regularly drank as many as 20 pints a day. He was addicted to heroin and also used other drugs.

In February 2007, some 15 months after Hobson's failed appeal, the European Court of Justice began a review of lifelong imprisonment to determine whether such sentences amounted to a violation of human rights. If the court outlaws lifelong imprisonment, Hobson and all other prisoners serving such sentences would have their cases called back to court for a new minimum term to be set.

Wikipedia.org

Mark Hobson, born 1969, is a British murderer who killed his ex-girlfriend and her twin sister in 2004 before killing an elderly couple who lived nearby.

He later admitted four charges of murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment (a whole life tariff) with a recommendation that he should never be released. He is serving his term in Wakefield Prison and is unlikely ever to be released.

Hobson, who was 34 at the time of the murders, was a former binman from Selby, North Yorkshire. He killed his girlfriend Claire Sanderson, 27, and her twin sister Diane at a flat in the nearby village of Camblesforth. The twins' mutilated bodies were discovered by Diane's boyfriend on 18 July, 2004. He subsequently murdered an elderly couple, James and Joan Britton, at their home in the village of Strensall, a few miles north of York.

He was caught at a petrol station on 25 July, 2004, in the village of Shipton-by-Beningbrough, near York, following a nationwide manhunt. At his subsequent trial, Hobson pleaded guilty to all four murders and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a reccommendation that he should never be released - the first time such a reccommendation had been made for someone who had admitted their crime.

The court was also told that Hobson had stabbed a love rival five times in the chest in a daylight attack in front of shoppers in Selby in 2002, leaving him with a punctured lung. Hobson had admitted grievous bodily harm and was spared a jail term, receiving a community punishment. This lenient sentence came under much criticism in the light of Hobson's later offending.

Hobson lodged an appeal to have his whole life sentence reduced, claiming that he should have been given a more lenient sentence because he had admitted all four murders at the earliest opportunity.

But the appeal was turned down by the Appeal Court. Judge Lord Philips stated that a whole life order was inevitable, regardless of a guilty plea. He said: "No-one knowing the facts of the case could be in any doubt as to why the judge had given no effect to the guilty plea."

Shortly before this court case, Hobson was placed into Solitary Confinement for three months after attacking Ian Huntley (a former school caretaker convicted of murdering two female pupils at a Cambridgeshire school), and scalding him with a bucket of boiling water. A prison service spokesman said that due to the nature of high-security prisoners, "it's impossible to prevent incidents of this nature occasionally happening",

In January 2006, letters were released from Wakefield Prison where Hobson blames alcohol for his killing spree. It had been revealed at Hobson's trial that he was an alcoholic who regularly drank as many as 20 pints a day. He also had a drug problem, and was addicted to heroin and cocaine.

In February 2007, some 15 months after Hobson's failed appeal, the European Court of Justice began a review of lifelong imprisonment to determine whether such sentences amounted to a violation of human rights. If the court outlaws lifelong imprisonment, then Hobson and all other prisoners serving such sentences would have their cases called back to court for a new minimum term to be set.

Murderer must spend life in jailBBC News