FRENZIED knife murderer David Hamilton is planning to marry a prison art teacher 11 years his senior.

Hamilton was 17 when he murdered 39-year-old mother-of-three Sharon Metcalfe by stabbing her 65 times at her home in Coundon, County Durham.

High on a cocktail of drugs and alcohol, he turned on the woman who had taken him into her house, after he found himself homeless.

Now, aged 20, he is serving an indefinite life sentence for the killing, which long-serving police officers described as the most horrific they had seen.

Governors at Moorland Young Offenders' Institution, near Doncaster, have received a request to allow him to marry mother-of-two Karen Garner, 31.

The pair met at Castington Young Offenders' Institution, near Morpeth, Northumberland, where the college art teacher, from Heaton, Newcastle, had a part-time job teaching inmates.

This week his victim's family were angered that Moorland's governor will be considering his petition to marry.

Mrs Metcalfe's sister, Judith Thompson, from Shildon, said that the family had pressed prison bosses for a public inquiry when they first learned about the love affair. "He is a monster," she said. "He has shown no remorse or consideration for our feelings.

"I have been told officially that he is on a ten-year tariff and could apply for parole when he is 26. He should be locked up in a cell for ever.

"We feel let down by a system that allows him to build a new life and educate him for the future. He killed a precious and much-loved sister and he destroyed us, her family, for the rest of our lives. I don't know how he can live with himself after what he did.

"We asked for a public inquiry when we learned of the relationship but we were told there would be an internal prison inquiry."

Hamilton's mother, Carol, declined to talk about her son's plans. She said: "I have nothing to say about what he does. How do you think I feel having to live in the village where he did that?"

Another member of the family said Mrs Hamilton had endured three years of misery because of her son's crime.

Ms Garner said she did not want to talk about her marriage plans for fear of the reaction they might provoke.

However, when the affair first came to light four months ago, she was reported as saying: "I kept in touch with David because I care about him and I plan to stay in touch. We met at Castington and had a relationship.

"We are now a couple and I see him on visits. We are a couple and want to carry on the relationship."

A prison service spokeswoman confirmed that Hamilton has made an application to marry Ms Garner, adding: "This is being dealt with by the chaplain who will pass it on to the governor for his consideration. No decision has yet been made."

The prison service has no powers to prevent inmates from marrying, but does try to discourage them from doing so. A wedding ceremony would normally be conducted in the prison chapel and would be followed by a normal visit