Double ripper assassin jailed for 30 years after boasting he ‘bought away with it’

A assassin who butchered a lady in a ripper-style killing has been jailed for her homicide 30 years after making sick boasts he had “got away with it”.

David Smith, 66, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the homicide of Sarah Crump with a minimal time period of 27 years following a listening to at Inner London Crown Court immediately (Friday May 26).

Twisted Smith was discovered responsible of slaughtering Sarah in 1991 in a horrific killing that noticed her discovered along with her breasts minimize off and her inside organs positioned on the mattress. While awaiting trial for killing one other lady, Amanda Walker, a fellow prisoner reported Smith had mentioned “he got away” with Sarah’s homicide, the Sun reports. 

Speaking after sentencing Detective Superintendent Rebecca Reeves, from the Metropolitan Police, mentioned: “Smith’s sentencing immediately bring to a halt a 32-year quest for justice for Sarah’s household.

“I am delighted that Smith has finally been held to account for this heinous crime; he is a depraved man who will now more than likely spend the rest of his life behind bars.”

Lorry driver David Smith, 67, was acquitted of killing Sarah Crump, 33, in 1993, after a trial at which her mother warned he would kill again. Smith went on to commit an almost identical murder of another sex worker, Amanda Walker, 21, in 1999, for which he has served 24 years of a life sentence.

Both women were sexually mutilated by Smith, who was known to colleagues as the “Honey Monster” or “Lurch” because of his 6ft 3in height and heavy build.

Ms Crump, a secretary in the chiropody department at Wimbledon Hospital, south-west London, had lived a double life as an escort and Smith visited her at her one-bedroom flat in Southall, west London, in 1991.

Smith denied murdering her but was finally found guilty at Inner London Crown Court this week after Court of Appeal judges ordered a retrial because of “new and compelling proof”.

Mr Justice Bryan on Friday handed him a life sentence with a minimum term of 27 years minus the 479 days he spent on remand in the 90s, meaning he will serve at least 25 years and 251 days.

Smith, wearing dark glasses with his head bowed, showed no emotion as he was branded a “sadistic sexual killer” and a “ordinary and dishonest liar”.

The judge told him: “I need to sentence you for this abhorrent homicide which was, I’m positive, each sexual and sadistic in nature. I’ve little question your pre-meditated and deliberate intention that evening… was to kill and sexually mutilate an escort to fulfill your perverted and sadistic sexual wishes.”

The judge told Smith, who at the time lived with his parents in Hampton, Middlesex: “You have a historical past of escalating sexual violence towards ladies.”

He said the killing was part of “an escalating sample of violence and sexual offending by you towards, however not restricted to, intercourse employees,” culminating in the murder of Ms Walker.

Smith was convicted of that murder in 1999 and has already served 24 years of a life sentence.

After he was found guilty of Ms Walker’s murder, Ms Crump’s mother Pat Rhodes said: “I really consider Smith to be responsible of the homicide of my daughter Sarah. I mentioned on the trial that he would kill once more.”

While on remand awaiting trial for Ms Walker’s murder, Smith boasted to another inmate he had “bought away with it”.

Members of Ms Crump’s family, including her two elder sisters, Joanne Platt and Suzanne Wright, and Jill McTigue, the detective who led the original murder investigation were in court to see the sentence.

The judge said he hoped the sentence would give the family “some closure”, telling Smith they would be “protected within the information you’ve gotten been dropped at justice and are prone to spend the remainder of your life in jail”.

He said the mitigating features were “skinny gruel certainly,” adding: “You have proven no regret in anyway.”

Smith’s case was referred to the Court of Appeal and was despatched for a recent trial following a change within the legislation on double jeopardy in 2003.