Gary Allen: Killer jailed for murdering two women 21 years apart - BBC News
The daughter of one of Gary Allen's victims says his sentence ends years of heartache for her family.
Gary Allen, pictured in 1998 on the left, told probation officers he harboured a a hatred of women

An "extremely dangerous" killer who murdered two women 21 years apart has been jailed for at least 37 years.

Gary Allen, 47, strangled Samantha Class, 29, in Hull in 1997 and Alena Grlakova, 38, in Rotherham in 2018.

He was tried and cleared of Ms Class's murder in 2000 but the acquittal was quashed after he was charged with killing Ms Grlakova.

At Sheffield Crown Court, Judge Julian Goose told Allen his "lies had caught up with him".

During the hearing, Ms Class's daughter, Sophia read out a victim statement describing her family's suffering since her mother's death.

She said the close of the case marked the end of 24 years filled with "heartache and no answers".

"This has ended with Gary Allen being convicted and he finally gets justice for what he did," she told the court.

A letter from an 11-year-old Ms Class to former detective Ken Bates, who led the original murder investigation, was also read to the court.

Written after her mother's death, it detailed her fear that the killer would come after her.

In a further statement read to the court by prosecutor Alistair MacDonald QC, Ms Grlakova's ex-husband Viliam Grlak said she was "desperate to turn her life around" at the time of her death.

She had plans to return to her native Slovakia and had "promised our children she would return to be with them", he said.

"I feel like Alena has been stolen from our children," said Mr Grlak, adding that their daughter and three sons had "suffered nightmares and trauma" since their mother's murder.

Samantha Class (left) and Alena Grlakova were both strangled and dumped in water

Allen was found guilty of killing Ms Class and Ms Grlakova, both of whom were sex workers at the times of their deaths, after jurors heard he had a profound hatred of prostitutes.

Sentencing him to life, Judge Goose said there had been a "significant degree of premeditation" involved in both murders.

He said Allen was "an extremely dangerous man, with a long-held, deep-seated and warped view of women, particularly of sex workers".

"I am satisfied that you fantasise and plan serious violence to sex workers, intending that they should suffer and be killed," he said.

"It would not be an overstatement to say that what you did to those two women, and the loss and suffering to their families, was wicked."

Samantha Class's daughter, Sophia, said her family's lives had been "turned upside down" by her mother's killing

He described Ms Class's killing as brutal and callous, telling Allen: "You thought you had got away with that murder but today your past has caught up with you."

The judge said the crimes were of "such exceptional seriousness" as to merit a whole-life prison term, but Ms Class's murder pre-dated the 2003 Criminal Justice Act that allowed courts to order defendants never be released.

But, as he set a minimum custodial term, he remarked: "I doubt it will ever be safe to release you into the community".

Judge Goose praised the work of undercover Humberside Police officers who secretly recorded Allen confessing to strangling Ms Class and dumping her in the River Humber.

He said all involved in Operation Misty - launched in 2010 to gather evidence against Allen - had played a "vital part" in bringing him to justice.

Following the sentencing, one of Allen's surviving victims, whom he assaulted in Plymouth, said she became "very emotional" as she watched the judge deliver his remarks.

She said she was relieved as she could "finally feel safe and try and put this behind me".

Allen, who appeared in court via video link, showed no reaction as the sentence was handed down.

This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. A recording of Gary Allen's confession to Samantha Class's killing was released after his second murder trial

During the trial, prosecutors said Ms Class had been stamped on, strangled with a ligature and run over by a car before being dragged to the water on the night of 25 October 1997. Her body was discovered the following day.

Ms Grlakova's body was found in a stream in Rotherham in April 2019, three months after she was reported missing.

Just weeks after he was acquitted of murdering Ms Class in February 2000, Allen assaulted two sex workers in separate attacks in Plymouth, for which he was convicted and jailed.

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