A man has been sentenced to an additional 15 years in prison, on top of the 18 already served, for setting fire to his partner and causing her death 21 years later.
Steven Craig, 58, doused Jacqueline Kirk in gasoline and set her ablaze in a Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, car park in April 1998.
He was imprisoned for more than 18 years for the attack, but after her death in August 2019, he was arrested again and charged with her murder. Last month, a jury at Bristol Crown Court found him guilty of that charge.
At sentencing on Thursday, Judge Mrs Justice Stacey described Craig’s conduct as “sadistic” and the attack as “planned and premeditated”, handing him a minimum term of 34 years.
His trial heard that the 1998 attack left Ms Kirk with 35% burns on her body and required 14 operations, including skin grafts and a tracheotomy.
She lived to the age of 61 and saw both of her children marry and become grandmothers.
However, she died the next day after being admitted to the Royal Bath Hospital in 2019.
Jurors were told scarring to her chest and abdomen meant they were less able to expand when breathing, which resulted in intestinal swelling.
When she fell gravely ill, given her frailty, doctors decided not to operate on her.
Prosecutor Richard Smith KC had told the jury that they did not need to find Ms Kirk’s injuries were the primary cause of her death, just that they played a “more than minor” role.
Craig admitted to being responsible for the attack, but not for her death.
source:nsemwokrom.com
