Murder of Sasha Marsden

Last updated

Sasha Marsden
Born(1996-05-07)7 May 1996
Died31 January 2013(2013-01-31) (aged 16)
Blackpool, England
Cause of deathMurder (stabbed)
NationalityBritish
OccupationStudent
Parent(s)Gary and Jayne Marsden

Sasha Marsden was a 16-year-old student studying childcare from Blackpool, England, who was stabbed to death on 31 January 2013. [1] Her body was then set on fire. It was alleged by the media that she had received threatening emails prior to the murder. [2] The murder received international coverage. [3]

Marsden was studying childcare at a local college. She lived with her parents in Staining near Blackpool. Six months earlier, she had been missing for six days before being found in Lowestoft, Suffolk. [4]

On the day of her murder, Marsden had been dropped off at the Grafton House Hotel, believing she was there for a job interview. Her body was found in an alleyway in Blackpool's South Shore district, and a post-mortem examination revealed attempts to set fire to it. She had been sexually assaulted, stabbed 58 times and her body wrapped in carpet underlay and bin liners. [5]

A 22-year-old man and a 20-year-old woman from the local area were arrested on suspicion of murder the day after it was found. [4]

On 3 February 2013 David Minto, the caretaker of a local hotel, was charged with Marsden's murder while the woman was released without charge. Minto appeared in court the following day. [6] He pleaded not guilty on 24 April 2013. He was remanded in custody to stand trial on 15 July 2013. [7] On 26 July Minto was found guilty of Marsden's murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum time of 35 years to serve before being eligible for parole. [5]

Minto appealed against his sentence in February 2014, but it was upheld by the Court of Appeal of England and Wales and the minimum term of 35 years was upheld. [8]

Marsden's sister Gemma Aitchison now campaigns to help sexual assault victims and to change community attitudes, especially amongst young people. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Sarah Payne</span> 2000 abduction and murder of a child in West Sussex, England

Sarah Evelyn Isobel Payne was the victim of a high-profile abduction and murder in West Sussex, England in July 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Moore (serial killer)</span> Welsh serial killer

Peter Howard Moore is a British serial killer who managed cinemas in Bagillt, Holyhead, Kinmel Bay and Denbigh in North Wales at the time of his arrest. He murdered four men in 1995. Due to his trademark attire of a black shirt and tie, he was dubbed the "man in black".

Kriss Donald was a 15-year-old white Scottish teenager who was kidnapped and murdered in Glasgow in 2004 by a gang of 5 men of Pakistani origin, some of whom fled to Pakistan after the crime. Daanish Zahid, Imran Shahid, Zeeshan Shahid and Mohammed Faisal Mustaq were later found guilty of racially motivated murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. A fifth man, Zahid Mohammed, pleaded guilty to kidnapping, assault and lying to police and was sentenced to five years in prison. He later went on to testify against the other four at their trials.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Willem Holleeder</span> Dutch criminal (born 1958)

Willem Frederik Holleeder is a Dutch gangster, outlaw biker and convicted criminal. He is nicknamed De Neus because of the size of his nose.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amanda Knox</span> Template for Amanda Knox

Amanda Marie Knox is an American author, activist, and journalist. She spent almost four years incarcerated in Italy after her wrongful conviction in the 2007 murder of Meredith Kercher, a fellow exchange student, with whom she shared an apartment in Perugia. In 2015, Knox was definitively acquitted by the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation. In 2024, an Italian appellate court upheld Amanda Knox's slander conviction for falsely accusing Patrick Lumumba of murdering Meredith Kercher.

Jennifer Lee Daugherty was an American woman who was torture-murdered in Greensburg, Pennsylvania as an act of revenge in February 2010. Daugherty, who was mentally disabled, was tortured and murdered before being wrapped in Christmas decorations, put inside a garbage can, and dumped in the parking lot of Greensburg-Salem Middle School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Meredith Kercher</span> Template for Amanda Knox

Meredith Susanna Cara Kercher was a British student on exchange from the University of Leeds who was murdered at the age of 21 in Perugia, Italy. Kercher was found dead on the floor of her room. By the time the bloodstained fingerprints at the scene were identified as belonging to Rudy Guede, an Ivorian migrant, police had charged Kercher's American roommate, Amanda Knox, and Knox's Italian boyfriend, Raffaele Sollecito. The subsequent prosecutions of Knox and Sollecito received international publicity, with forensic experts and jurists taking a critical view of the evidence supporting the initial guilty verdicts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of violence against LGBT people in the United Kingdom</span>

The history of violence against LGBT people in the United Kingdom is made up of assaults on gay men, lesbians, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex individuals (LGBTQI), legal responses to such violence, and hate crime statistics in the United Kingdom. Those targeted by such violence are perceived to violate heteronormative rules and religious beliefs and contravene perceived protocols of gender and sexual roles. People who are perceived to be LGBTQI may also be targeted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Cassie Jo Stoddart</span> 2006 murder in Pocatello, US

On September 22, 2006, CassieJo Stoddart, an American high school student, was murdered by her classmates Brian Draper and Torey Adamcik in her aunt and uncle's house in Pocatello, Idaho, United States. Stoddart's body was discovered two days later, when her relatives returned home from their trip.

Events from 1997 in England

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2011 murder of the Ding family</span> 2014 quadruple homicide near Wootton, Northampton, England

The 2011 murder of the Ding family occurred in Wootton, a suburb of Northampton, England, in late April. Four members of the Ding family—Professor Jifeng "Jeff" Ding, his wife Helen Chui and their daughters Xing and Alice—were found murdered at their home in Wootton at 6:00 pm on Sunday, 1 May 2011. They were thought to have been murdered two days earlier between about 3:00 pm and 4:00 pm on Friday, 29 April 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disappearance of Charlene Downes</span> 2003 disappearance in England

Charlene Elizabeth Caroline Downes disappeared on 1 November 2003, when she was 14, from her home town of Blackpool, a seaside town in north-west England. Downes was last seen in an area of the town centre that contained several takeaway and fast-food units. Lancashire Constabulary, the police force investigating her disappearance, believe that she was murdered within hours of the last sighting.

The Peterborough ditch murders were a series of murders which took place in Cambridgeshire, England, in March 2013. All three victims were male and died from stab wounds. Their bodies were discovered dumped in ditches outside Peterborough. In Hereford, two other men were stabbed but survived. The perpetrator was Joanna Christine Dennehy, a Cambridgeshire woman, who was later sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order.

Stacey Mitchell was a British-born girl living in Australia who was murdered at the age of 16, on 18 December 2006, by couple Jessica Stasinowsky and Valerie Parashumti. She was bludgeoned with a concrete block and strangled with a chain. Her corpse was found in a wheelie bin shortly afterwards. Stasinowsky and Parashumti had known Mitchell for three days, and claimed they murdered her because they found her irritating.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2014 Colchester murders</span> Serial killings of two people in Colchester, United Kingdom

On 29 March 2014, 33-year-old James Attfield, who had a brain injury, was stabbed to death in Colchester, Essex. Three months later, on 17 June, Nahid Almanea, a 31-year-old Saudi student of the University of Essex, was also stabbed and killed. Teenager James Fairweather was apprehended while planning a third murder in May 2015, and in January 2016 he pleaded responsible for both deaths. In April 2016 he was found guilty of both murders and sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 27 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murder of Claire Tiltman</span> Murder in Kent, United Kingdom in 1993

Claire Tiltman was a 16-year-old girl who was murdered on 18 January 1993 in Greenhithe, Kent, England. Her murder was not solved until 21 years later.

Elaine O'Hara was an Irish childcare worker who was murdered in August 2012 by architect Graham Dwyer. She was last seen alive at a public park in Shanganagh, Dublin, Ireland, on 22 August. The remains of her body were discovered on Killakee Mountain, south of Dublin, in September 2013. The investigation of her disappearance and later of her death was widely reported.

References

  1. "Sasha Marsden stabbed to death in Blackpool alley". BBC News. 2 February 2013. Archived from the original on 26 September 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  2. "Blackpool Stab Death: Teen 'Received Threat'". 3 February 2013. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  3. "Brutalt knivmord skakar England". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  4. 1 2 Leach, Ben (2 February 2013). "Teenager found dead in alleyway died of stab wounds to head and face". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 13 July 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  5. 1 2 "Barman Found Guilty Of Teenager's Murder". sky.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  6. "Sasha Marsden killing in Blackpool: Man on murder charge". BBC News. 3 February 2013. Archived from the original on 7 October 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  7. "Sasha Marsden killing in Blackpool: Man denies murder". BBC News. 24 April 2013. Archived from the original on 26 September 2018. Retrieved 20 June 2018.
  8. "Sasha killer fails in court appeal". blackpoolgazette.co.uk. 8 February 2014. Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  9. Scullard, Vickie (11 May 2019). "'My teenage sister was murdered by a sex beast - now trolls say they'll do the same to me'". Manchester Evening News . Retrieved 15 October 2020.