Murderer Of Vet Catherine Gowing Is Jailed

The family of a vet say "justice has been served", after the man who murdered her before cutting up and disposing of her body was jailed.

Production manager Clive Sharp, 47, was sentenced to a minimum of 37 years in prison after he admitted murdering Catherine Gowing.

Mold Crown Court heard he had a long-standing fantasy to imprison, rape and kill a woman.

Passing sentence, Mr Justice Griffith Williams told Sharp: "This is a horrific, cold hearted murder, carried out to gratify your perverted sexual desires."

Outside court, Miss Gowing's sister Emma said: "Our world is now a safer place."

"Catherine was an exceptional woman," she added. "She lived her life spreading compassion and love.

"In life she measured herself against the following quote by Albert Pine - 'What we do for ourselves dies with us, what we do for others and the world remains and is immortal'."

The court had been told that Sharp had bought a Halloween mask, bleach, a hacksaw, bin bags and heavy duty tape before going to the home of Miss Gowing in Flintshire.

Sharp initially denied murdering the 37-year-old, originally from Ireland, but his DNA was found on her mattress and parts of her body subsequently found in police searches.

The court heard the evidence suggested that she had been tied up and raped before being murdered.

A length of fabric was found tied to the leg of her bed. It matched material found at the factory where Sharp worked.

Detective Chief Inspector Mark Pierce told reporters: "He (Sharp) now faces life imprisonment and I doubt a tear will be shed if he is never released from prison."

The judge Mr Justice Griffith Williams described the crime as "carefully pre-meditated and planned".

He told Sharp: "You are in my view a very serious danger to women."