Killer who strangled mum-of-two during 'rough sex' jailed for life
A “callous” sex-killer who scattered pornography near his victim’s body and then used her bank card to buy food has been handed a 29-year minimum jail term.
Richard Bailey strangled and smothered 33-year-old mother-of-two Charlotte Teeling during initially consensual sex at his Birmingham flat less than six hours after meeting her in a shop during a night-out.
Bailey, 41, who had a staggering 171 previous convictions, was convicted of murder on Monday after jurors rejected his account that Miss Teeling had died accidentally when she asked to be choked during “rough sex”.
Passing a life sentence on Wednesday at Birmingham Crown Court, Judge Patrick Thomas QC was told Bailey had previously committed a string of violent offences solely against women.
Bailey, who was on licence at the time of the killing, showed no emotion as he was sentenced and was led away to shouts of “beast” and “scum” from the public gallery.
Ruling that the murder involved “sexual or sadistic” conduct, Judge Thomas told Bailey: “You told the police that Charlotte asked you to squeeze her neck.
“Even if that were the case – and I do not accept that it was – it is manifest that she did not consent to being injured, let alone killed.
“I find that you were applying force to Charlotte’s neck for your own satisfaction – and that you covered her mouth to prevent her crying out.”
Commenting on the fact that Bailey left Miss Teeling’s body in his bedroom for more than a week, the judge added: “Your actions in making use of Charlotte’s bank card after you killed her demonstrate an extreme degree of callousness.
“So does the way you conducted yourself in those eight days. We know that you spent much of the following night in bars and fast-food restaurants, trying to use Charlotte’s card and occasionally succeeding.”
Jurors found Bailey guilty after accepting he intended to kill or cause really serious harm to Miss Teeling, who suffered injuries to her neck and mouth and a bone fracture near the base of her tongue.
The court was told Miss Teeling, who had lived on the Isle of Wight and also at a women’s refuge in Worcester, met Bailey shortly after leaving a Birmingham nightclub at about 5am on February 23.
In a victim impact statement read to the court by prosecutor Jonas Hankin QC, Miss Teeling’s mother Diane said:”Time will not heal the heartache and sadness that Charlotte is no longer the life and soul of our family.
“It is every mother’s worst nightmare. There will always be one person missing from any family gathering. Not only did he take Charlotte’s life, he stripped her of dignity in death.
“Every day I am haunted by the panic and fear that Charlotte experienced as the life was squeezed out of her.”
Members of the victim’s family remained calm after Bailey was taken down, when a woman sitting in the public gallery, believed to be related to the killer, claimed he was innocent.
Bailey had denied murder, claiming his victim, who he met hours earlier in a shop, died accidentally during “rough sex” after asking to be choked. Jurors at Birmingham Crown Court had taken just one hour 15 minutes to unanimously convict Bailey of murder.
