Siobhan Kelly's killer handed life sentence after changing plea to guilty (From News Shopper)

Siobhan Kelly's killer Stephen Foad handed life sentence after changing plea to guilty

5:40pm Thursday 9th February 2012 in News By Rachel Conner

A MAN is facing life in prison after admitting bludgeoning his former lover to death in her own home.

Stephen Foad, 42, of no fixed abode, was found guilty of murdering 39-year-old Siobhan Kelly, of Tudor Road in Crystal Palace, after he changed his not guilty plea during his trial.

He will now serve a minimum of 13 years in prison after being sentenced at the Old Bailey.

Judge Richard Hone said: “It was an attack on a vulnerable female, who was herself disabled to some extent, in her own home.

“I think you realise the awful burden placed on the family. I am satisfied you have remorsed.

“It is perhaps some comfort for the family that you have admitted what you did.”

Foad changed his plea after he saw the family of Miss Kelly at the trial.

Mitigating, Tim Roberts said: “Due to previous mental illness, long standing since he was a teenager, he had not been able to acknowledge the enormity of what he had done to Siobhan Kelly.

“As the prosecution opened he was overcome by guilt and remorse for what he had done.

“When he looked towards the family of the deceased was so overcome he resolved he must plead guilty and acknowledge what he had done.”

Miss Kelly’s decomposing body was found wrapped in a duvet in her flat on February 7, three weeks after she was attacked.

Foad had met her on January 15 last year and they had bought alcohol together before having an argument.

The court heard Katarzyna Budka, who lived in the flat above Miss Kelly, heard swearing and banging between 10pm and 11.30pm.

Prosecutor Duncan Atkinson said she had been the victim of a “sustained and savage” attack which left her with fractured ribs and boot marks on her clothing.

The jury was told Miss Kelly was attacked in two rooms and bloody fingerprints and footprints found at the scene matched those of the defendant.

A post mortem found she had been repeatedly struck to her head, with heavy blows from fists and other items.

There was DNA evidence showing she had been struck with a broken red candle found in the living room.

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

Mr Atkinson, reading from a family statement, said: “It is such a waste of life.

“Siobhan had the right to live her life and did not deserve what happened to her. She was very much loved.”

The court heard Foad had previously been convicted of 105 offences and had appeared in court on 44 occasions.