Killer Stephen Farrow who murdered vicar and pensioner dies in prison
Killer Stephen Farrow who murdered a vicar and a pensioner has died in prison.
The 58-year-old was given two whole life terms over the deaths of Betty Yates, 77, after battering her with her own walking stick before stabbing her four times in the neck and face.
He then knifed Rev John Suddards, 59, at his vicarage before covering his body in gay porn DVDs, party poppers and condoms in an effort to "spoil his reputation".
He had planned to crucify the vicar – but left behind his bag with the hammer and nails.
Twisted Farrow was found guilty of both murders after a three-week trial at Bristol crown court in 2012.
Double killer who slit girlfriend's throat within weeks of release jailed
He died at HMP Frankland in Durham on Monday. The Prison Service has not confirmed his cause of death.
It confirmed to the Mirror: "HMP Frankland prisoner Stephen Farrow died on 21 August. As with all deaths in custody, the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will investigate."
Betty Yates was battered with her own walking stickFarrow, who claimed a priest abused him as a child, had previously visited Canterbury aiming to murder Archbishop Rowan Williams but was deterred by the high level of security. He also broke into a cottage near the vicarage while the owners were away and stuck a note to a table with knives. The message said: “Be thankful you did not come back or we would have killed you Christian scum. I f***ing hate God.”
During his sentencing, Judge Mr Justice Field told him: “I am satisfied that in your case a whole life sentence is appropriate in each of these dreadful, horrific killings,” he told him. To put a knife deep into Betty Yates’s body as she lay helpless on the floor, having arranged her head on the pillow, was an act of sadism.
"You put the knife in her to have the pleasure of doing it. As for the Rev Suddards, you killed him – having kicked him down and told him, ‘F***ing hurry up and die’ – with seven deep knife wounds. He was helpless. That conduct was sadistic.” Farrow plunged a knife into widow Betty’s face and neck in her home near Bewdley, Worcestershire, in January 2012. His footprint was found on a mat. In February he killed the Rev Suddards with a kitchen knife at St Mary’s church vicarage in Thornbury, Gloucestershire.
He left a Bible open on the vicar’s chest and a picture of a semi-naked male model on his lower body. The murderer then spent the night at the vicarage, watching an Indiana Jones DVD and sipping beer in the lounge. He stole the vicar’s mobile phone and used it to send a text reading, “RIP Mr Suddards. Pervert” to a number on his contacts list.
Police found his footprints in the vicarage and he was arrested that month in Folkestone, Kent, after a woman with whom he was staying saw he was wanted by police and dialled 999. Officers discovered trousers, a jacket and a knife stained with the vicar’s blood. Farrow, who had been diagnosed with a psychopathic personality disorder, admitted the manslaughter of the Rev Suddards on grounds of diminished responsibility and denied murderering Mrs Yates – but was found guilty of murder on both counts.
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