Jack the Ripper-obsessed killer stabbed mum-of-two to death and scrawled ‘JACK’ over her naked body
Casey Scott was branded a 'dangerous individual' and jailed for a minimum of 19 years
A MAN obsessed with Jack the Ripper strangled and stabbed a blonde mother-of-two before scrawling the word "JACK" on her dead body, a court has heard.
Casey Scott took a photograph of his naked victim Lenuta Haidemac as "a morbid trophy", leaving her body on the bathroom floor of his studio flat - with the 29-year-old man now jailed for a minimum of 19 years.
The court heard Scott had booked Lenuta Haidemac, 28, for a £150 an hour sex session before brutally killing her with a 10cm blade and leaving her "degraded" body in his in Skegness, Lincs flat.
Having researched the notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper around the time he killed her, the former Grammar boy then fled the scene - going on the run for three days before being tracked down by cops.
Judge Michael Heath slammed the "brutal" murder as he jailed Scott for almost two decades during the hearing at Lincoln Crown Court, saying the man had committed an "evil act".
Sarah Knight, prosecuting, said Lenuta had been "vulnerable", with the woman lured to the home by Scott - who had no intention to pay her.
Ms Knight said: "Once inside his flat, sexual activity having taken place between them, he strangled her and subjected her to a violent knife attack.
"He then degraded her naked dead body still further by scrawling the word 'JACK' across her abdomen, a morbid reference to his internet search concerning Jack the Ripper.
"Knowing what he had done, he then went to ground, trying to escape justice before the police were able to track him down."
Lenuta was Romanian and lived 20 miles away in Boston with her partner Octavian Selistean and their two sons, then aged 3 and 13.
Working as an escort, Lenuta had advertised her services online, where Scott tracked her down and arranged to meet her in July, with the man buying four cans of larger, chocolate and biscuits just before Lenuta's partner drove her to the meeting.
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The court heard that Lenuta's partner Mr Selistean waited to hear from the young woman to make sure she had arrived safely at the ground floor flat in Drummond Road - receiving at text message at 10.32pm.
He never heard from her again, alerting police the next day.
Ms Knight said: "She was never to be heard or seen alive after that time by anyone other than Scott."
Police searched the flat after Mr Selistean's call, finding a used condom that matched Lenuta's DNA with indications the pair had sex on the double bed in the flat.
Ms Knight said: "On the pillow was found a blood-stained knife and in the shower room they found the body of Lenuta Haidemac on the floor. She was already dead and cold to touch, indicating she had been dead for some time. She was naked and partly covered by a duvet. She was lying on her back."
The court heard that she had been strangled and stabbed twice in the neck, with lines across her throat and two puncture wounds beneath her nipples.
The court heard Scott left behind his mobile phone when he fled from the flat.
Miss Knight added: "Upon analysis a thumbnail image was found on it showing that he must have taken a picture depicting the victim's dead body as she lay on his bathroom floor, as if to record the event as some sort of keepsake or trophy of what he had achieved.
"From checks of Scott's internet activity at around the time of Lenuta's death, it appears that he had been researching the notorious murderer Jack the Ripper on the internet."
Scott went on the run for three days after the murder, eventually arrested 20 miles from the murder scene after being found sheltering in a hedgerow in a disused area of Boston.
The court heard Scott had no previous convictions and only one caution for shoplifting in 2009, but following the murder police traced two other young women whom Scott had attempted to strangle.
On the day of the murder Scott also sent a Facebook message to a friend about a prostitute coming over. When the pal warned Scott he would not get away without paying Scott messaged back: "It doesn't matter. I'll sort it."
Andrew Jefferies QC, mitigating, said while it was accepted that Scott had "degraded" Lenuta's body there was no evidence he had researched Jack the Ripper until after the killing.
"The killing appears to have happened at the time she was to leave, 11.30pm," Mr Jefferies told the court.
"The search for Jack the Ripper on the internet was not until 11.49pm and the photo a minute later."
At an earlier hearing Scott, who had lived as tenant in the ground flat on Drummond Road for five years, admitted murdering Ms Haidemac between 19 and 22 July 2016.
The word 'JACK' was written across her abdomen in pen ink
Sarah Knight
Passing a life sentence on Scott, Judge Michael Heath ordered him to serve a minimum tariff of 19 years imprisonment before he can be considered for release by the parole board.
Judge Heath told Scott, who appeared in court by videolink from prison, that it was a "brutal" murder of Ms Haidemac.
"Her life was brutally ended by you, by strangulation and a vicious knife attack, followed by the degradation of her body.
"Your evil act left Ms Haidemac dead and deprived two young children of their mother."
The judge added the killing was aggravated by Scott's behaviour afterwards, saying: "You took a photograph of her naked body as some kind of morbid keepsake or trophy of what you had done."
The court heard Ms Haidemac's partner and two children had returned to Romania after the murder.
In a victim statement Mr Selistean said: "She did not deserve this, she must have been so frightened at the end."
Speaking after the hearing Detective Chief Inspector Diane Coulson, who investigated the murder, said: "Scott is clearly a dangerous individual and he
is now off the streets for 19 years.
"But it will be very difficult for Lenuta's partner and her children to come to terms with. They have lost part of their family."
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