Man jailed for life for murder of tragic Siobhan
A MAN has been jailed for life for killing an Irish woman whose body lay undiscovered in her flat for three weeks after he beat her to death.
Siobhan Kelly’s mother in Ireland alerted police when her daughter did not make her regular weekly call home for a few weeks.
They found her badly battered body at her south London flat.
Stephen Foad, 42, had denied murdering Siobhan Kelly, 39, but changed his plea three days after his trial started at the Old Bailey.
Foad, of Foxhill Lane, Gipsy Hill, south London, was given a minimum term of 13 years.
Miss Kelly was the victim of a "sustained and savage" attack, said prosecutor Duncan Atkinson.
She may have taken up to 15 hours to die after being bludgeoned on the head, punched and stamped.
Police forced their way into her flat in Tudor Road, Gipsy Hill, south London, on February 7 last year.
They found her decomposing body wrapped in a duvet on the bed and blood spatter marks in the bedroom and living room.
Mr Atkinson said she had been attacked at different times in both rooms.
There was evidence that she had been struck with a red candle in the living room, which may have knocked her unconscious for a while.
She had later crawled into the bedroom where she was attacked again. A bedside lamp was thought to have been used to strike her several times.
Miss Kelly also had fractured ribs and boot marks on her clothing.
She was last seen alive on January 15 when Foad, with whom she had a casual relationship, was the last person to see her alive.
Palm prints in blood in both rooms matched heavy drinker Foad, as did the bloody boot prints.
Mr Atkinson said: "It was this defendant who unleashed a sustained and savage attack on Siobhan Kelly.
"Miss Kelly had been beaten to death. There were a number of heavy blows to her head and blows to her body and arms."
- Shenai Raif
