Killer of twins and elderly couple may have been planning more murders
Distraught relatives of the victims of Mark Hobson wept as a judge heard how he murdered 27-year-old Claire Sanderson before luring her sister, Diane, to her death a week later.
Leeds Crown Court was told how shaven-headed Hobson, aged 35, subjected Diane Sanderson to horrific sexual mutilation, possibly while she was still alive, before going on the run.
He then murdered housebound James Britton, aged 80, and his wife Joan, 82, in their own home, brutally beating them both with Mr Britton's walking stick before stabbing them.
Prosecutor Paul Worsley QC told the court how Hobson, of New Lane, Selby, North Yorkshire, had scribbled the names of other potential victims on a possible hit list and police feared he might strike again.
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, George and Jackie.
The twins' bodies were found by their father who hugged his sobbing wife through much of the hearing as Mr Worsley outlined Hobson's killing spree.
He said it began with the killing of Claire whom Hobson hit 17 times with hammer before putting a plastic bag over her head at the flat they shared in the North Yorkshire village of Camblesforth.
The judge heard how the pair had been seeing each other for 18 months and had a stormy relationship. One person even nicknamed Claire 'Eight-Ball' a reference to the black bruising on her face.
Mr Worsley said that a week after murdering Claire, Hobson lured her sister to his home by saying his girlfriend had glandular fever.
Diane was then subjected to sustained blows and a "macabre and bizarre" sexual attack, Mr Worsley said.
He said her left nipple was bitten off and that Hobson may have eaten it as there was no evidence of it at the murder scene. Her body was found with her hands and feet bound behind her back.
Hobson told a colleague he had picked the "wrong sister" and would have her, the court heard.
The victims' relatives hugged each other in the court's public gallery and cried out as they heard the barrister explain that Diane might have been alive during the attacks.
The court was told how Mr Sanderson found his daughters wrapped in binbags on Sunday, July 18, last year. On that day Hobson, after taking a cocktail of cocaine, ecstasy, alcohol and cannabis, walked into the Brittons detached house and attacked them with the walking stick and a knife. In a statement read to the court, Mr Sanderson said: "I went over and grabbed hold of them. I knew at that moment that Claire was inside. I looked back to Diane and I wanted to cuddle her."
The judge was also told how neighbours were so used to the couple's rowing and screaming that on the night Claire died one person just shut the door and turned the TV up.
The court was told Mrs Britton walked with a frame and was recovering from a broken leg. Former Railway surveyor Mr Britton was deaf and suffered from a Parkinson's type disease.
The court was told that both would have fallen over if they were "hit them with a feather".
Mr Worsley said Hobson then went on the run for a week, sparking a massive manhunt. After he was eventually arrested, he told officers: "I'm a f****** murderer, aren't I?"
Mr Worsley said he told officers he had taken a cocktail of cocaine, ecstasy, alcohol and cannabis before killing the Brittons and had lost "a day and a half."
The prosecutor said that while on remand in Wakefield Prison, Hobson told a prison officer he "never felt better in my life."
He wrote to a friend saying being in jail was "like being on Big Brother", because of the 24-hour camera surveillance.
Hobson, who has one natural daughter and two adopted children, admitted four counts of murder and spoke only to mutter four guilty pleas and confirm his name. The judge, Mr Justice Grigson, said he would sentence Hobson on May 27 at Leeds Crown Court.
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