THE brutal killer of Kelly Franklin has been jailed for 29 years.

Torbjorn Kettlewell, stabbed Kelly Franklin, the mother of his three children, more than 30 times in Hartlepool and was then helped to flee the scene by his former neighbour and lover Julie Wass, 48, of Kipling Road, Hartlepool.

This morning, the 30-year-old was told he would serve at least 29 years behind bars for the murder and was also given an 18-month concurrent sentence for possession of bladed article.

His accomplice Wass, who was was cleared of murder but found guilty of the alternative charge of manslaughter following a trial at Teesside Crown Court, was sentenced to eight years and three years concurrently for assisting an offender.

In a heartbreaking victim impact statement her mother, Stacy Franklin, laid bare the family's devastation at brutal murder.

The Northern Echo:

In a statement read out in court she said: "We will never forget the day we lost her, hearing the devastating news, the police coming to our home and confirming she had passed, we immediately knew it deep down in our stomach, that it was Kelly and that Ian was responsible, we expected it to be him with no doubt in our mind.

"Even more devastating was that we had the children with us and had to try and keep things as normal as possible to not scare them or upset them as Ian has not been caught. The pain and loss felt in those few hours was agonising, mixed with utter disbelief and shock. Looking at the children and knowing their mother had been taken from them forever, broke us inside.

"Kelly had moved on from you Ian, she no longer wanted a creature like you in her life, no longer wanted or needed you, in fact she never even spoke about you. She rid you like a nasty virus that had plagued her life for over 12 years.

"She was always so much better off without you. She was always the better person, kind, caring, thoughtful and loving, a person like you never deserved her. Why couldn’t you just let her go and live her life and be happy?"

Sentencing Kettlewell, Mr Justice Jacobs said of Kelly: "It is clear... that she was a person whose natural personality was vibrant, funny and confident, a personality that was suppressed as a result of the psychological abuse, the constant denigration, and on occasions physical abuse that she suffered from her ex partner over many years."

He described her as 'remarkable' in her attempts to break free from ex-partner Kettlewell.

"It is never easy for an abused woman to break free, but certainly in the last few months of her life she did it, and did it successfully.

"She did it although she received a constant stream of messages, many of them deeply unpleasant and threatening, and all of them manipulative, from her ex-partner.

"She was a determined and remarkable young woman with very considerable resilience and astonishing mental strength."

Speaking to Kettlewell, whom he described as 'controlling, manipulative and abusive', he said: "This was a brutal murder carried out in a public place on a summer's evening when people were out and about. It was plainly distressing to those who witnessed it.

"One of the people who witnessed this horrific attack was a child who was sick as a result."

The frenzied attack saw Kelly suffer 32 stab wounds.

Mr Justice Jacobs said: "The terror and agony which she must have suffered in those final moments are awful to contemplate. You showed her absolutely no mercy."

He condemned Wass for 'snooping' on her neighbour Kelly on behalf of Kettlewell, and said she was 'quite happy' to help Kettlewell attack her physically, although he accepted she did not know he would kill her. 

He said she made no attempt to call emergency services or stop Kettlewell getting into her car and escaping after the attack.