Gemma Hayter murder: three of disabled woman's 'friends' jailed for life
Two others also given long sentences after Hayter, who had learning disabilities, was viciously beaten and left to die
Chantelle Booth, Daniel Newstead and Joe Boyer who have been sentenced to life for their part in the murder of 27-year-old Gemma Hayter. Photograph: PA
Three people have been jailed for life for the murder of a woman with learning disabilities who was viciously beaten, led to a railway embankment and forced to drink urine before being stripped and left to die.
A jogger found 27-year-old Gemma Hayter's body at a disused railway line in Rugby, Warwickshire, in August 2010.
Daniel Newstead, 20, Chantelle Franklyn Booth, 22, and Joe Boyer, 18, all from Rugby, were convicted of murder following a trial at Warwick crown court and given life sentences.
Jessica Lynas and Duncan Edwards, both 19 and also from Rugby, were given 13 and 15 years for manslaughter. All five, who Miss Hayter had considered to be her friends, were sentenced at the Old Bailey on Monday.
During sentencing the court was told Miss Hayter, who had learning difficulties and was disabled, was made to drink urine from a lager can.
She was also hit with a mop and beaten in a flat before being cleaned up and escorted to a disused railway line. There she had her clothes removed, was beaten further and forced to have a plastic bag placed over her head, the court heard.
Lady Justice Rafferty said the "vile" torture and murder of Miss Hayter was a "chronicle of heartlessness".
"It is difficult to find the words to express how vile your behaviour was," she added. The judge ordered Booth to serve at least 21 years in jail while Newstead was ordered to serve a minimum of 20 years. Boyer was told to serve a minimum of 16 years for the murder.
Referring to the moment when the victim was forced to drink urine, the judge said: "I struggle to see how much lower you could have sunk."
All five were also convicted of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Miss Hayter had been subjected to a savage beating in Booth and Newstead's flat after a disagreement following a night out.
Following the convictions, the victim's family issued a statement: "Our Gemma was a very loving and vulnerable woman who trusted everyone, and her trusting nature and vulnerability led to her death on 9 August last year. Our family has found the last year, and especially the last seven weeks, incredibly difficult and today we welcome the jury's verdict.
"Now our family can finally move on and hopefully do whatever we can to help prevent anything like this happening again to another vulnerable adult in the future."
Rafferty said Miss Hayter had suffered a beating so violent that a pathologist remarked on the severity of the breaking of her nose.
"She was hit with a mop or a broom. She was locked into a lavatory. She called out again and again for her mobile telephone, which was put down another lavatory to protect you by ensuring she could not get help," she said.
Edwards and Boyer had urinated into a can of lager and made their victim drink it, the court heard.
"She tagged along, battered, in pain and unsuspecting, like a faithful loving dog, as you walked her to her death," said Rafferty.
The judge added that viewing the CCTV footage of Miss Hayter's last journey became "insupportable". "After a while I, for one, could not watch it," she said.
Once in seclusion the beating started again and Miss Hayter was cut with a knife, kicked and had a plastic bag put over her head.
"One final indignity was to come," said Raffery. "You stripped her naked and left her body where you had dragged it. Gemma Hayter died alone."
She singled out Booth, of Rugby – who had described Miss Hayter as her best friend – as a "nasty piece of work".
"Over the years you treated Gemma Hayter like a toy to be picked up and put down, dependent, I suspect, on whether there was a gap in your miserable life which she could fill," the judge said.
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