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Man murdered girlfriend and baby

Martin Halfpenny
Tuesday 30 November 2010 20:00 EST

A bar manager has been jailed for life for the murder of his girlfriend and their 10-month-old daughter in a "sustained and fearsome" knife attack after hearing voices saying he should kill them.

Anthony Marsh, 22, attacked Stephanie Bellinger, 24, as she slept in the bedroom of their home in Totton, Hampshire, in February this year. She was stabbed more than 30 times.

The prosecution at Winchester Crown Court said the killing had "powerful elements of sexual motivation and revenge". Their daughter, Lili Marsh, was stabbed once as she lay on the same bed. Marsh did not kill the couple's son, aged two and a half, whom he left locked in the house after the murders.

Marsh admitted the killings, but denied murder on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The jury heard during the two-week trial that Marsh suffered from bipolar disorder and the family were £13,000 in debt, partly because he lost his job after he stole from a pub he worked in.

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