Murderer who called victim 'mum'

Quartey stabbed Dr Anyetei 56 times

In October 2005 David Quartey began lodging at Dr Victoria Anyetei's home in Dartford, Kent.

Quartey the 22-year-old son of a Ghanaian High Court judge, got to know Dr Anyetei after she saved the life of one of his family members.

She acted as a guardian to him, taking it upon herself to make sure he succeeded in his law studies.

But as he skipped lessons and failed exams, the relationship became strained, ending in murder.

Dr Anyetei came from a large Ghanaian family. She moved to England in about 1996 and had lived in Dartford for eight years.

Persistent lying

But on 14 August, 2007, she was brutally murdered by Quartey in her car on the driveway of her home.

During his trial, Quartey described how he would call Dr Anyetei "mum" and claimed he had been accused of killing someone he loved.

Dr Anyetei was murdered in her own car as she left for work

But prosecutors told how his persistent lying about exam failures and poor attendance at college had damaged their relationship.

The court heard how he complained to a friend: "she's doing my head in."

Described as a normally "placid, likeable young man", Quartey snapped, prosecutor Anthony Haycroft said.

On the morning she died, Dr Anyetei's son Andrew Thompson said he was asleep in his bedroom when he became vaguely aware of his mother coming in.

"I remember my mother shaking me. She said 'David's scaring me, he's acting strange'," he said.

Shortly afterwards, David Quartey stabbed Dr Anyetei 56 times with a six-inch blade in a frenzied attack, as she left for work.

'Extraordinary crime'

In an effort to cover his tracks, Quartey let out a scream which in turn alerted Dr Anyetei's son who was asleep inside the house in Teynham Road, Dartford.

He then disposed of the murder weapon and claimed to have "discovered" the victim himself two hours later.

Senior police chiefs said "There was initially no clear motive or suspect. Quartey lied and continued to lie about circumstances leading up to her death."

Officers visited 120 homes as part of house-to-house enquiries and distributed 2,000 appeal leaflets to drivers during a road check after the murder.

They also took 648 witness statements and 1,240 exhibits, investigating what senior police chiefs said was a "truly extraordinary crime".

A relationship that began with Dr Anyetei's kind gesture had ended with a brutal murder.