‘Depraved’ sex predator jailed for 42 years for murder in violent spree
Brian Sengendo beat and stabbed Therasia Gordon, 44, in an act of extreme violence, Old Bailey heard.
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A “depraved” sex predator has been jailed for at least 42 years for killing a woman and violating her dead or dying body during a violent spree.
Brian Sengendo beat and stabbed Therasia Gordon, 44, in an act of extreme violence, the Old Bailey heard.
He then enacted his “vile fantasy” to have sex with her dead or dying body before dumping her body in woods in Enfield, north London, last August.
One of the things I have had to consider is whether this is a case where a potential serial killer was caught at the outset of a murderous campaign. Of course this is difficult to say
Earlier the same night, the 27-year-old delivery driver targeted two other vulnerable women in the area, the Old Bailey was told.
To one of his victims, Sengendo had said: “I have got you now, you are not going anywhere. If you move I’m going to … kill you.”
To another woman, he said: “This is what’s going to happen – I’m going to rape you and I’m going on enjoy raping you and you will do what I say otherwise I’m going to kill you.”
The defendant, who had a collection of Tarot cards, was recorded on his mobile phone talking about devils and demons, jurors heard.
Following an Old Bailey trial, Sengendo was found guilty of seven charges, including murder, attempted murder, kidnap and rape.
The jury was discharged from reaching verdicts on two other counts of kidnap and threatening with a knife in relation to a fourth woman.
Sengendo had denied all the charges and blamed a work associate called KT, despite incriminating DNA and CCTV evidence.
Following his conviction, he “confessed” to the offences he was convicted of to a psychiatrist and blamed his social isolation, unemployment and drug and drink abuse.
On Friday, Judge John Hillen handed Sengendo a life sentence with a minimum term of 42 years for the murder.
He imposed four discretionary life sentences for two kidnaps, rape and attempted murder plus determinate terms of prison for making threats to run concurrently.
Judge Hillen highlighted the vulnerability of sex workers, citing recent figures identifying 152 being murdered since 1990.
He told the defendant: “Sex workers – women, men, transgender – remain and will remain vulnerable.
“It is that vulnerability you took advantage of when you set out on a determined effort to kidnap, to rape, ultimately to kill a sex worker and then to violate sexually the dead or dying body.”
He rejected the explanation to the psychiatrist saying the defendant was a “proven liar and manipulator” who had never revealed what sparked the attacks, whether because he was robbed or due to “sexual inadequacy or failure”.
The judge said: “One of the things I have had to consider is whether this is a case where a potential serial killer was caught at the outset of a murderous campaign. Of course this is difficult to say.”
He said it was a “borderline” case for a whole life order, but said the minimum term imposed would reflect the seriousness.
During the trial, prosecutor John Price QC had told jurors that Sengendo carried out the attacks of “escalating gravity” over less than four hours on the night of August 3 last year.
He kidnapped vulnerable women by “tricking” them into his Vauxhall van.
Police first became aware after an officer went to the aid of an injured woman seen stumbling in the road just after midnight on August 4 last year.
A resident of New Park Avenue called police shortly before 1am to report an assault in an alleyway behind his house.
He had heard a female voice shouting out “Help, please, no!” and saw a young man striking something inside a van, the court heard.
When police arrived, the van had gone but officers found a large pool of blood on the ground, a mobile phone and two bloodstained knives, jurors heard.
Just under 32 hours later, a woman out for a morning walk along Burnt Farm Ride, near the M25, mistook Ms Gordon’s body for a “life-size doll”.
A day later, early on August 6, a cyclist stopped and took a closer look, and realised it was a woman and called police.
I will never come to terms with what this person did to my child. He has left a big hole in my heart.
I will never come to terms with what this person did to my child. He has left a big hole in my heart
From nearby CCTV cameras, police identified a white Vauxhall Vivaro van which was linked to the defendant’s former address in Enfield.
Sengendo was arrested in the early hours of August 7 last year. His T-shirt was recovered from the scene of Ms Gordon’s attack.
DNA testing linked it to the defendant, Ms Gordon and the saliva of another victim.
In his evidence, Sengendo, from Enfield, claimed a man called “KT” who he met through his work as a Yodel delivery driver must have taken the T-shirt and the spare keys to his van.
Reading a victim impact statement in court on Friday, Ms Gordon’s mother Jan Munday said: “I can’t understand why this man made my family live through Theresia’s murder day after day through a long and difficult crown court trial. He knew what he had done but continued to make my family suffer.
“As a family, we will never get over the fact that I have lost a daughter and they have lost their sibling. I will never come to terms with what this person did to my child. He has left a big hole in my heart.”