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By RICHARD OSLEY
 

Victims Ukleigha Batten-Froggatt, 6


Her mother Nicole Batten


Killer Mark Nicholas
TRIBUTES TO ‘LOVELY’ UKLEIGHA

Killer of mother and daughter jailed for 30 years

FRIENDS and relatives of a six-year-old girl who was murdered alongside her mother in a Somers Town flat have told how they feel numb after coming face-to-face with their killer in court.

Mark Nicholas, 30, was told he must serve 30 years of a double life sentence at the Old Bailey on Tuesday after confessing to killing Nicole Batten and little Ukleigha Batten-Froggatt.
The primary school pupil – described as a “little angel” by teachers and looking sparkly-eyed in a picture released by detectives shortly after her tragic death – charmed adult friends with her infectious personality and imagination, often drawing rainbows on sketchpads for pals and making home made gifts. One close friend said this week that she still treasured a badge that Ukleigha had made for her.
But, for all the fun times, the youngster’s name was listed on a social services “at risk” register due to concerns over her welfare at home.
An independent review cleared all social workers of any mistakes but criticised social services for not tackling Ms Batten’s heavy drinking and encouraging her to seek help. Staff at Winton Primary School in Killick Street, King’s Cross, were praised for being alert to possible problems, but the panel ruled there was poor communication between health visitors, doctors, social workers and the council’s housing department.
It is only since the murders that Camden’s social services has scored improved marks from government inspectors.
Three years ago, the department was in a state of crisis after its director Jane Held mysteriously left her post. Her departure was followed by the resignation of Labour councillor Penny Abraham as the elected member at the head of the department on the grounds that she was unhappy about Ms Held’s sudden exit.
At the time, some council bosses felt the department was the weak link at the Town Hall and risked losing Camden its much-trumpeted ‘excellent’ overall status in national performance chants.
Nicholas showed little emotion as he was sent to the cells at the Old Bailey.
He stabbed Ms Batten, 33, his former lover, in the chest before suffocating Ukleigha, probably with a cushion, at a flat in Levita House in Ossulston Street in February last year.
At the time of the murders, he had only been out of jail for a week following a four-month term in prison for driving while disqualified.
After the killings, Nicholas snatched money from Ms Batten’s bank account to buy crack cocaine and heroin. He also used the stolen cash to buy second hand car in which he planned to drive away to Wales in.
Nicholas was arrested after a two-week manhunt when a friend he was staying with in east London answered a police television appeal and turned him in. Detectives had found his victims’ bodies in the flat after Ukleigha failed to turn up to school for a week. Outside court, Ms Batten’s sister Andrea Harrison said: “Nicole was a kind, caring person. You could see that Ukleigha was the same. It is a shame that she wasn’t allowed to grow up. She was a lovely girl.”
Brother Jason Batten simply said: “There are too many children being killed in this country. It’s getting worse.”
Dawn Harrison, Ms Batten’s mother, added: “While they may be gone, they will never be forgotten. We feel lucky that for them to have been part of our lives.”
Commenting on Nicholas’s sentence, she said: “I would have liked it to be more but at least we know that he won’t be coming out for 30 years. I hope he finds a way to think about what he has done.”
Family friend Frankie Biney, who lives in Somers Town, said: “I don’t know how to feel now. It has gone on so long. I just feel numb. It was hard to sit in court and listen to the evidence.”
Another pal Leigh Austin said: “There was never any trouble with Ukleigha. She was a lovely girl. There is no excuse to kill her. Everybody has had their heart broken at some time – but its no excuse to kill a child.”
Judge David Paget QC described Ukleigha as “wholly innocent”.
She had simply witnessed the horror of Nicholas murdering her mother and the killer decided she therefore had to die, he added.
Judge Paget told the court Nicholas might end up in Broadmoor for psychological tests.
Leading psychiatrist Dr Nigel Eastman ruled that the killer had a severe personality disorder and was a public danger – especially to women.
When he was arrested, Nicholas made up a story for police that Ms Batten had attacked him with a crowbar and that he had used a knife to defend himself, the court heard. He also claimed that Ukleigha had only died because he had put his hand over her mouth to stop her crying.
Expert pathologists ruled out both explanations and Nicholas later accepted full responsibility.
He wrote a letter to a friend which was never sent and later found by police revealing that he had become besotted with Ms Batten. It included the line: “I’m a murderer in love.”
Prosecutor Julian Goose QC said that Ms Batten’s affections for him had cooled during his most recent jail stretch. He wrote to her many times from prison but the correspondence in return dried-up.
Mr Goose told the court: “He felt that if he could not have Nicole and Ukleigha no-one else would.”
The killer, originally from Haverford West in Wales, has a series of past convictions and had been previously jailed for wounding and robbery.
Detective Inspector Tariq Sarwar said: “Mark Nicholas is a cold and controlling individual with a total disrespect for human life. He could not accept that his relationship with Nicole was at an end and selfishly sacrificed the lives of two people who had done him no wrong.”
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