Croydon man jailed for life for killing former lover after changing plea

CROYDON MAN JAILED FOR LIFE FOR KILLING FORMER LOVER AFTER CHANGING PLEA

A man standing trial for battering his former lover to death after a drinking session was sentenced to life imprisonment after he changed his plea to guilty.

Stephen Foad from Fox Hill, Crystal Palace, was to serve a minimum of 13 years for the murder of Siobhan Kelly.

Foad, 42 and unemployed, altered his plea on the fourth day of the trial.

Miss Kelly, who was found dead in her flat on February 7 of the previous year, was described as an alcoholic and unemployed.

Police discovered her decomposing body on her bed wrapped in a duvet after she had been missing for three weeks.

The court was told she was beaten to death in her residence.

Bloody fingerprints and footprints matched Foad’s.

DNA tests revealed she had been struck with a broken red candle in the living room.

She was then either dragged or crawled to her bedroom, where she was attacked again with a bedside lamp.

An autopsy confirmed she was killed with repeated blows to the head, involving fists and other objects.

Bruising to her torso and fractured ribs, the latter from stamping with a shod foot, were also observed.

Judge Richard Hone QC noted with disappointment the burden faced by the victim’s family but acknowledged Foad’s remorse, stating, 'I think you realise the awful burden placed on the family.

I am satisfied you have remorse.

It is perhaps some comfort to them that you have admitted what you did.'