A man who raped and strangled a solicitor's clerk and set fire to her body was jailed for life at the Old Bailey in London yesterday. A security guard, Karl Stirk (26), broke into Ms Yvonne Killian's flat and subjected her to a terrifying ordeal before strangling her with her own tights.
Her fiance returned home from work hours later to discover her body, which had been doused in vodka and set alight in an attempt to destroy forensic evidence. The jury unanimously found Stirk guilty.
Stirk had denied murdering Ms Killian (22), originally from Mullingar, Co Westmeath, claiming that he had visited her earlier that evening because the pair were conducting an affair, but that she was alive and well when he left. DNA evidence linked him to the crime and a jury found him guilty. Stirk showed no emotion as he was convicted but there was applause from the public gallery.
Judge Geoffrey Grigson told him: "This was a truly terrible offence, and it is plain that you represent the gravest of dangers to women now and will continue to do so."
Stirk had a string of previous convictions for burglary and arson, setting fire to a warehouse and being caught as he was about to set a paper mill alight.
The court heard that Ms Killian had set up home with Mr Joe Scudden (26), and the couple had planned to marry. She was murdered at the home they shared in Cricketer's Close, Erith, south London, on March 13th last year.
The police revealed that 600 DNA samples were taken randomly from men in the area before they matched Stirk.