Life sentence for killer of stable girl

A farmworker who bludgeoned a stable girl to death with an iron hook, last night began a life sentence for what the case judge called "a terrible act of revenge".

Stephen Webber murdered 27-year-old Jessie Hurlstone as she lay in bed in her caravan at racing stables in Buckfastleigh, south Devon, last October, three weeks after she began going out with a local man.

Webber, 39, who was said to have followed Ms Hurlstone round like puppy, was convicted at Exeter Crown Court Mr Justice Rougier told Webber, of Buckfastleigh: "However that girl treated you, it was no excuse or mitigation for battering the life out of her in this terrible act of revenge," he said.