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‘Brutal’ killer to serve 18 years
A PRISONER released early has begun a life sentence for the horrific killing of his lover while high on cocaine.
The Old Bailey heard that Shaun Russell, 43, who had convictions for burglary and robbery, was fitted with an electronic monitoring tag when he attacked Penny Mazzocchi.
After the knife attack at her flat in Levison Way, Archway, he slit his own wrists. Police found Russell in July last year when they broke into the second-floor flat he shared with Ms Mazzocchi, a 38-year-old cleaner and devoted mother of a 13-year-old son, Alex.
The teenager had been staying at a friend’s on the night of the killing. Judge Christopher Moss, QC, who heard Alex’s evidence over a video screen, described him as “a remarkable young man” who deserved the “admiration of the court”.
Relatives said Ms Mazzocchi was “cherished by her family and friends”. She dreamed of seeing her son gain a university place.
Russell denied murdering Ms Mazzocchi but confessed to killing her, claiming he had no memory of the attack. The jury rejected his account and he was ordered to serve a minimum 18 years before being able to apply for parole because he remains a danger to any woman he forms a relationship with.
Judge Moss told him: “Penny Mazzocchi died brutally and horribly at your hands. What led you to attack her in that way will never be clear. You will have to live with it for the rest of your life.” |
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