Killer to serve at least 15 years

Faye Thorneycroft will serve at least 15 years

A prostitute who murdered a 75-year-old client by tying more than 20ft of tape around his face will serve at least 15 years behind bars.

Faye Thorneycroft, then 18, of Craddock Street, Wolverhampton, was convicted in 2002 of murdering Anthony Shelley in Staffordshire in 2001.

On Friday, Mr Justice Goldring, under a new court procedure, gave her a tariff on her life sentence of 15 years.

He also described her as a "very dangerous young woman".

The judge said she could serve much longer and should only be released when she was no longer thought to be a danger to the public.

The court heard Thorneycroft went to Mr Shelley's Stafford home in March 2001, armed with duct tape, sticky tape, rope and a bottle of liquid containing white spirit, ampicillin and ecstasy.

'Bondage session'

Mr Justice Goldring said Thorneycroft, now 22, persuaded Mr Shelley, "a lonely old man", to drink the liquid and then made him sign three blank cheques later made out for £10,000.

She then tied him to a chair, wrapped 13ft of duct tape around his body, and 9ft of tape around his nose and mouth and a 13ft of sticky tape on top of that.

At the trial Thorneycroft claimed Mr Shelley had died accidentally during a bondage session before changing her story to say he was killed in a robbery that went wrong.

Mr Justice Goldring added that in the weeks before the murder Thorneycroft had told her sister she planned to kill someone and opened bank accounts in false names.

Taking into account the time Thorneycroft spent on remand, the tariff - the minimum sentence she must serve before being considered eligible for release - means she will not be released before 2016.