Judge tells killer he will spend life behind bars

A FORMER bin-man who murdered his girlfriend, her twin sister and a frail elderly couple in a brutal killing spree was told yesterday he will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Mark Hobson, 35, admitted the murder of his girlfriend Claire Sanderson, 27, and her sister Diane at his flat in Camblesforth, North Yorkshire, and killing pensioners Joan and James Britton at their home near York.

At Leeds Crown Court, Mr Justice Grigson sentenced Hobson to life in prison and gave him a “whole life tariff”.

As the sentence was read out, the twins’ mother Jacqueline Sanderson stood up in the public gallery and shouted: “You bastard. Rot in there. Rot in hell.”

Sentencing Hobson, the judge said: “The enormity of what you’ve done is beyond words.”

Hobson beat Claire Sanderson to death with a hammer before luring her sister Diane to her death a week later. He subjected Diane to horrific sexual mutilation, possibly while she was still alive, before going on the run last July.

He then murdered housebound Mr Britton, 80, and his wife Joan, 82, in their own home, brutally beating them both with Mr Britton’s walking stick before stabbing them to death.

The court was shown handwritten notes made by Hobson which suggested he had pre-planned the “horrific and chilling” murders and was even planning to kill the twins’ parents.

Mr Sanderson found his daughters wrapped in binbags on July 18 last year.