Monika Szmecht murder: Anthony Clarke jailed for 25 years

May 2 2008

A FORMER soldier has been jailed for a minimum of 25 years for the murder of his ex-girlfriend whom he kidnapped, set on fire and stabbed.

Jealous Anthony Clarke forced Monika Szmecht, 21, into a cage in his van where she was held for four hours.

He then drove her to a country lane in Merseyside where she was stabbed six times and set alight.

When she remained alive, Clarke resumed the stabbing frenzy before she was left for dead.

But Ms Szmecht, a waitress originally from Kloda, near Leszno, Poland, managed to crawl to a house for help and named her killer to paramedics in the moments before she died.

Clarke, a businessman on the fringes of Liverpool’s criminal underworld, had denied murder but was convicted by a unanimous jury of 11 at Liverpool Crown Court yesterday.

As he stood in the dock today, it was clear he had suffered severe injuries overnight.

He had two black eyes and large cuts and swelling along the left side of his neck.

Mr Justice Teare jailed him for life with a minimum term of 25 years.

The judge told Clarke: "Nobody who listened to the evidence of how Monika died will fail to be horrified.

"This murder began by you kidnapping Monika and keeping her captive for almost four hours.

"You drove her out to an isolated spot. You stabbed her six times and you set her alight with the aid of a petrol can and when you saw she was still moving, you stabbed her further.

"Despite her extreme suffering she somehow walked, or perhaps staggered, to a nearby house where she collapsed, naked and smouldering.

"And she identified you as her attacker to those who came to her aid."

The judge added: "It is difficult to imagine the enormity of the physical and mental suffering you inflicted on Monika.

"It must have been extreme."

Because of Clarke's underworld links, Judge Teare had agreed to allow armed police officers to manage security around the court building and courtroom.

Outside court, Ms Szmecht’s sister, Kalina Adamska, made a brief statement saying: "Monika was a happy person, very smiley and with a beautiful face.

"He (Clarke) is not a human, he is a beast.

"I never want him to leave jail but I am pleased with the sentence."

Also jailed today was Clarke’s uncle, David Clarke, 46, of Walton Village, Liverpool, and best friend Philip Savin, 29, of Chester Avenue, Bootle, Merseyside.

They were originally charged with murder alongside Clarke but, on the day the trial was due to start, they pleaded guilty to lesser charges and gave evidence for the case against the murderer.

David Clarke was jailed for two years for assisting an offender. The court heard that he helped his nephew dispose of evidence and obstructed the police inquiry into Ms Szmecht’s death.

Because of time served on remand, he will be released in around five months.

Savin, also a former soldier, was jailed for four-and-a-half years for helping his friend kidnap Ms Szmecht and attempting to destroy evidence.

The court was told that when Ms Szmecht was murdered last June, Savin was on the run following the theft of a lorry containing £26,000 worth of soap.

He was jailed for a further 18 months for that offence and told he must serve a minimum of three years.

Judge Teare said that, while their evidence had assisted the prosecution, there had always been a powerful case against Clarke.

The four week trial had heard that Clarke, of Halsey Crescent, West Derby, Liverpool, had ended a year-long relationship with Ms Szmecht shortly before the murder.

Although he asked Ms Szmecht to leave the house they shared, which he owned, and he had moved his former partner and their children back in, he refused to allow Ms Szmecht to see other men and became jealous.

The prosecution said Clarke had been violent towards Ms Szmecht on a number of occasions and she had reported him to police.

But Ms Szmecht "naively" demanded £1,000 from Clarke for her to withdraw her statement.

It was this blackmail attempt that led to Ms Szmecht meeting with Clarke on 11 June last year.

Clarke had told her he would pay her the money and the couple agreed to meet, at 5pm in the car park of a fire station near her home in Croxteth, Liverpool.

But instead Clarke forced her into his van, locked her inside a cage at the back and left her inside for four hours, with the car alarm sounding, as it was parked at his garage business.

At around 9pm he drove her to Blindfoot Road, near the village of Rainford, St Helens, where the murder took place in a lay-by beside a field.