'Conman' killer Brendan Rowan-Davies jailed for 30 years for brutal murder of Gosport mum-of-three Kelly-Anne Case

Brendan Rowan-Davies, 29, tortured Kelly-Anne Case, 27, by prodding her with a knife before repeatedly slashing her throat in her bedroom in Grange Crescent, Gosport, on July 30, having bound her wrists together with cable ties.

Her body was discovered by shocked firefighters who arrived to put out two fires started in the kitchen and living room when Rowan-Davies attempted to cover his tracks.

Jurors were under no illusion of his guilt despite Rowan-Davies attempting to pin his crime on a mystery knifeman he claimed he had disturbed in Ms Case's home when he returned at 7.46am for around 40 minutes.

He had left the back door unlocked deliberately when he left earlier in the morning with his friend Will Vallender, who he had filmed having sex with Ms Case.

Sentencing the defendant, judge Mr Justice Neil Garnham said he was convicted on ‘overwhelming evidence’.

Addressing him, Mr Justice Garnham said: ‘Either you obtained pleasure from inflicting wounds on Ms Case before you went on to kill her in which case it was sadistic in motivation or you inflicted pain to persuade her to have sex with you and killed her when she refused.

‘The former is more likely and what I find occurred.’

Mr Justice Garnham added: ‘This was a truly dreadful crime.’

The judge imposed a life sentence with a minimum term of 30 years, and a two-year term concurrent for arson.

The judge said when Rowan-Davies tied her up and attacked ‘she was then completely at your mercy and you showed her none’.

He then added it was a ‘sadistic sexual motive’.

In a statement read in court, Ms Case's mother Caroline Tebb said two dates would remain with her forever – the date of Ms Case’s death in ‘such a heinous and needless crime,’ and when she had to tell her children and siblings.

‘The first date of those dates being the date my daughter Kelly-Anne Case was brutally and sadistically taken from us by a sick, vile, excuse of a human being.

'This oxygen thief not only deprived me of a daughter but he also took a mother, a sister, an aunt, a niece, cousin, granddaughter and friend.’

Ms Tebb said anyone who knew her daughter ‘will never recover from this’. She said: ‘Kelly was an attractive, young, straight-talking, independent woman, someone you would instantly like or dislike.’

She said her daughter was a ‘reliable, caring and considerate’. Ms Tebb added: ‘She will be sadly missed by those who truly knew her.’

Mitigating, Kate Lumsdon QC said there was a ‘lack of specific evidence' on the sexual motivation, but accepted her client had stolen underwear from Ms Case's home, filmed her and Will Vallender having sex and he told Ms Case he had ‘always fancied’ her.

The court previously heard Rowan-Davies has an IQ between 55 and and mid-60, according to separate experts.

He has five previous convictions, including for burglary going back to 2006, the court heard.