A MAN whose brutal slaying of his Congleton neighbour was described as "cold-blooded and pre-meditated" has been jailed for a minimum of 30 years.

David Mottram, 47, was handed a life sentence at Chester Crown Court today (Monday) for the murder of Samantha Heap at her flat in the town.

A jury heard Mottram was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and that as part of reaching their verdict they needed to decide whether his condition had affected his rational judgement at the time of the killing on Tuesday, March 2 this year.

They concluded that it didn't and he was found guilty of murder unanimously.

Sentencing, Judge Michael Leeming described Mottram as "a very dangerous man".

The court heard that Mottram called Crisis Line and told them that he had killed his neighbour, 45-year-old Ms Heap. He admitted the killing to officers attending the supported living complex in Nursery Lane.

Mottram later told a psychiatrist that he said to Samantha that he had been locked out of his flat and asked to come in while he rang a family member to get a spare key. He then subjected her to a sustained and brutal assault.

A Home Office Post Mortem revealed the cause of death as strangulation with many other serious injuries sustained by the victim.

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Detectives found a blue holdall with a number of handwritten letters in his flat stating that he didn't want to live in the community and wanted to go to prison.

In determining the minimum sentence, Judge Leeming decided that Mottram had taken a ligature with him that he used to strangle Samantha, had stabbed and inflicted other sharp force trauma on her with a knife from her flat, as well as inflicting multiple blunt force injuries that resulted in more than 60 injuries to her.

He described it as a "cold blooded and premeditated murder planned over a number of years", which involved a sexual element by subjecting her body to sexual degradation.

Det. Insp Julien Culham said: "What Mottram did that evening was inconceivable and has left a family absolutely devastated.

"Despite admitting to officers at the time, and on his initial call to the crisis line, he decided to plead not guilty causing the family further distress of having to go through a trial.

"I hope that following today's sentence Samantha's family can take some small comfort, knowing that Mottram has now been given a significant prison sentence."

Samantha's family said in a statement: "Samantha was a warm lovely person who had no bad in her and did not deserve what happened to her. As a family we have suffered a great loss and we are struggling to come to terms with what happened.

"While it won't bring Samantha back to us, knowing he is in prison for what he did to Samantha and our family will, I hope, help us in some way as we try to come to terms with our devastating and cruel loss.

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"We would like to take the opportunity to thank the police and CPS for their advice and support throughout this traumatic time."