Carpet fitter who murdered ex-partner and dumped body in lay-by jailed for at least 17 years

Dec 19, 2023

Darren Hall, who murdered his ex-partner and dumped her body in a lay-by, has been jailed for a minimum of 17 years.

A jury found on Friday that Hall, a 36-year-old carpet fitter, killed Sarah Henshaw at her home in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, during an argument.

Sentencing him on Tuesday, Mr Justice Goss said: “Sarah Henshaw was 31 years of age.

“She was a loud, outgoing and fun-loving person with an infectious laugh.

“The harm you have done and the suffering you have caused can never be undone by any sentence of this court.”

After killing Ms Henshaw on 20 June, Hall then disposed of her body in woodland near a lay-by on the westbound A617 near Chesterfield, 20 miles away.

Hall initially claimed to friends, family and the police that Ms Henshaw had gone missing before her body was found on 26 June.

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He was arrested on 23 June, and charged with murder five days later.

During sentencing, Mr Justice Goss said that Hall had “maintained the fiction” that he had not hurt Ms Henshaw.

He said: “Having heard all the evidence, I am satisfied that there were earlier occasions in your relationship where you were violent to Sarah Henshaw and bruised her.

“Whatever arose that caused you to be violent in the bedroom, you attacked her and, although it could not be established by pathological evidence, you almost certainly strangled her.

“You then set about hastily doing what you could to prevent your crime being discovered.

“Consequently, you made mistakes which enabled careful detective work to reveal what you had done.”

He added: “I can’t accept that you have genuine remorse for killing her, as you still protest you did nothing to hurt her.

“I accept that there was no pre-meditation and you had no intention to kill, but you clearly ignored her screams and used sufficient force to cause her death.”

Hall had previously told the court that Ms Henshaw died after falling down the stairs but admitted to dumping her body in the lay-by as he “just panicked”.

Defence KC Andrew Vout submitted that Hall “deeply regretted and was very sorry for” dumping Ms Henshaw’s body, and called the defendant’s actions as “plainly very wrong”.

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