TWISTED KILLER
Marcus Osborne gets whole life order for murdering ex and her lover and mutilating his body days after being released
Chilling messages monster sent ex before killing her revealed
A MONSTER who killed his "beautiful" ex and her new boyfriend while mutilating his body has been jailed for life.
Katie Higton, 27, was "ferociously and mercilessly" murdered alongside Steven Harnett, 25, at her home in Huddersfield in May last year.
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The mum's ex Marcus Osborne, 35, brutally attacked the pair when they arrived home.
His vicious knifing left Katie with 99 injuries.
Osborne then launched at her new lover, leaving his body mutilated and covered in 24 wounds.
The killer has today told he will die in prison, after last year admitting to two counts of murder.
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He had also pleaded guilty to the false imprisonment and rape of another woman on the same evening.
One family member yelled "I hope you rot in hell" as Osborne was taken away at Leeds Crown Court after being handed the rare whole-life order.
Katie's loved ones today paid tribute to her, saying she was a "shining, beautiful and deeply caring soul whose presence lit up any room".
At the time of the killing, twisted Osborne said: "Romeo and Juliet can die together."
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It was heard that he had been released from prison just days before committing the violent crimes.
Osborne was jailed in 2013 for four years and ten months after he broke a previous girlfriend’s jaw in three places when she ended their relationship.
He was caged again for 16 weeks in 2015 after attacking another girlfriend, again when she split-up with him.
Osborne told that woman she would "end up in a box" if she finished with him.
Both Katie and partner Steven were knifed to death during the horror attack, which came 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.
As she walked inside on that horror night, Katie's ex launched at 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 mum for seven years and was the dad of her oldest two children.
He said the children were "in the property when the incident took place".
How long is a life sentence in the UK?
Life sentences are dished out to offenders who commit the most heinous crimes, including murder, rape and armed robbery.
Judges decide the minimum number of years a prisoner will serve of their life term on a case-by-case basis.
In many instances, this is a minimum of 15 years without chance of parole.
Unlike whole life orders, inmates have the ability to have their cases reviewed, which ultimately means they could get out of jail.
Offenders who have a fixed term or determinate sentence are likely to be released halfway through their sentence if they are not deemed a risk to the public.
In these cases, a parole board is not involved.
But prisoners who have been given terms of four years or more or who have committed serious or violent crimes must be reviewed before release.
Inmates with life and indeterminate sentences will be contacted three years before their tariff runs out.
The Parole Board then determines whether or not the offender will be granted release - a decision that typically takes six months to be reached.
Prisoners who are sentenced to a whole life order must serve their time without the possibility of parole.
They can only be issued to those who committed their crimes when they were over the age of 21.
While whole life orders mean that inmates will by kept incarcerated until death, this doesn't happen in every case.
The Home Secretary may grant release in exceptional circumstances, such as if a prisoner is of a great age or in ill health.
In other instances, the Court of Appeal can also over-turn whole life orders.
Katie was previously in a relationship with Osborne after they met at the gym where he worked in 2018.
One pal claimed the controlling personal trainer cut her off from her male friends and rifled through her social media.
A week before the murders, he sent a chilling message to the friend warning him not to speak to Katie anymore.
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 said previously it had referred itself to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) following prior contact with the "parties involved".
Detective Superintendent Alan Weekes today said the watchdog was still probing the case.
Katie's loved ones today said outside court: "Katie was a shining, beautiful and deeply caring soul whose presence lit up any room from the moment she entered it.
"We all continue to suffer from having her so brutally taken from us, and none more so than her four beautiful children. Their anguish has been almost impossible to bear.
"There is much we could say about the monster who took Katie from us. A man, if he can be called that, whose name does not deserve to even be mentioned within the same breath as hers.
"His sentencing today will not change the life sentence of loss he has inflicted upon us all."
Everything you did was motivated by sex and your need to sexually humiliate and degrade.
Mrs Justice Lambert
Speaking today, Prosecutor Jonathan Sandiford KC said: "The defendant committed a premeditated and brutal double murder motivated by sexual jealousy, a desire to exercise control over Katie Higton, an unwillingness to accept her decision to leave him and her freedom to form a relationship with another man."
Osborne also raped a woman in the house when he killed Katie and Steven.
The judge, Mrs Justice Lambert, imposed 10-year concurrent sentences 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.
"There is no psychiatric or other evidence placed before me to explain or help me understand your actions.
"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."
The judge said the killings were "sexual in nature" and driven by Osborne's "pathological jealousy".
She told Osborne: "They were driven by your sexual jealousy arising from Katie's decision to start a new relationship with Steven.
"I do not accept (the murders) are explained by your entrenched insecurity about being abandoned as a result of a neglected childhood.
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"Everything you did was motivated by sex and your need to sexually humiliate and degrade."
Mrs Justice Lambert said Katie's murder was a "merciless and sustained attack on a woman who was completely defenceless".
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