David Tiley

David Tiley (born 1960) is a convicted British murderer.

He murdered his disabled fiancee Susan Hale and, a week later, her carer Sarah Merritt at Ms Hale's flat in Southampton in March 2007. Susan was last seen alive on 5 March and their bodies were found on 15 March.

Tiley admitted both murders at his trial on 14 June 2007 and was sentenced to life imprisonment. The trial judge said that the brutality and evil of Tiley's crimes defied adequate description, and recommended that he should never be released from prison.

After his trial, it was revealed that Tiley had received a six-year jail term for rape in 1995 and after his release had returned to prison three times for failing to inform police of his whereabouts - a compulsory procedure for all sex offenders.

Earlier in 2007, it was reported that the European Court of Human Rights was reviewing whole life sentencing to determine whether it amounted to a violation of human rights. Should the European Court outlaw whole life sentencing, then Tiley and all other prisoners serving such sentences would have their cases recalled to court for new minimum terms to be set.

References

[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/6751937.stm Man killed fiancee and her carer] BBC News