Fireball killer jailed for life

Clarke left Miss Szmecht for dead, Liverpool Crown Court heard

A man has been jailed for life for the murder of his former girlfriend who he kidnapped, stabbed and set alight.

Anthony Clarke forced Monika Szmecht, 21, into a cage and held her for four hours before driving to a remote spot in Rainford, Merseyside, to kill her.

Mr Justice Teare, sentencing him at Liverpool Crown Court, said it was difficult to imagine the "enormity of the suffering" Clarke had inflicted.

The 27-year-old was told he would serve a minimum of 25 years in prison.

Clarke, a businessman believed to have connections to the Liverpool underworld, had denied murder but was convicted by a unanimous jury of 11 at Liverpool Crown Court on Thursday.

The judge told him: "Nobody who listened to the evidence of how Monika died will fail to be horrified.

I never want him to leave jail but I am pleased with the sentence Kalina Adamska, victim's sister

"Despite her extreme suffering she somehow walked, or perhaps staggered, to a nearby house where she collapsed, naked and smouldering.

"And she identified you as her attacker to those who came to her aid.

"It is difficult to imagine the enormity of the physical and mental suffering you inflicted on Monika. It must have been extreme."

Speaking outside the court, which had been protected by armed police officers during the hearing, Miss Szmecht's sister Kalina Adamska, said of Clarke: "He is not a human, he is a beast.

"I never want him to leave jail but I am pleased with the sentence."

Also jailed on Friday were Clarke's uncle, David Clarke, 46, of Walton Village, Liverpool, and best friend Philip Savin, 29, of Chester Avenue, Bootle, Merseyside.

Soap thief

Savin helped Clarke force Miss Szmecht into the van and threatened her with a can of petrol, while David Clarke arranged for the van to be cleaned and all evidence of her hostage ordeal removed

Murder charges against the pair were dropped when they agreed to give evidence for the prosecution.

David Clarke was jailed for two years after pleading guilty to assisting an offender. Because of time served on remand, he will be released in about five months.

Savin, also a former soldier, was jailed for four-and-a-half years after admitting kidnap, making threats and assisting an offender.

The court heard that Savin was already on the run after the theft of a lorry containing thousands of bars of soap worth £26,000.

He was jailed for a further 18 months for that offence and told he must serve a minimum of three years.