Hampshire man jailed for at least 30 years for stabbing his ex's disabled mother

Richard Shaw stabbed 63-year-old wheelchair user Lorraine Mills 48 times, including five times in her back, in the unprovoked attack at her home in Southampton on November 21 last year.

The defendant - who committed the fatal attack while on licence for a life sentence for three counts of rape of a 53-year-old woman in a five-hour ordeal - pleaded guilty to the murder of Ms Mills, whose body was found by her young granddaughter.

Sentencing him at Winchester Crown Court, judge Mrs Justice Cutts told Shaw: ‘In a frantic and unprovoked knife attack in her own home, she was killed by you in an act of revenge on her daughter with whom you had been in a relationship and had been arguing with in the days before.

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‘You said she should know what it felt like to feel pain and you were going to rip her heart out.

‘You murdered a woman who had done no one any harm, rather she had welcomed you into her life as her daughter's partner and into her home.’

The court heard that Shaw indecently assaulted Ms Mills before killing her in what the judge described as a ‘callous and selfish’ attack.

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Describing Ms Mills, the judge said: ‘She was a much-loved and active member of her family, described as an amazing, kind person.

‘She was a dearly loved grandmother and a sister and best friend to all.’

In a victim personal statement to the court, Ms Mills' daughter said: ‘Nothing can or ever will fully describe the horror that you brought upon us. I am totally lost, broken and empty.’

She said her mother's murder had ‘destroyed her life, and so many of those around her’ and would have a lasting impact on her daughter, who was with her when she discovered her mother's body.

She said: ‘My daughter, only nine years old, was with me when she found nanny, lying cold, bloodied and lifeless. This is an image that nobody should have to see, let alone a child.

‘There are no words that can describe your callous and evil actions, which caused such complete devastation. We as family will grow stronger because of you. Your disgusting actions will not break us, but the opposite, it will bring us together stronger.’

The court heard that Shaw had previously been jailed for life in March 2005 to serve a minimum of five years and 42 weeks for three charges of rape, and was released from prison in April 2022.

The rape offences happened just after he had been released from prison for an attack on Ms Mills’ daughter, with whom he had been in a previous relationship, the court heard.

Shaw, of Derby Road, Southampton, also had previous convictions for stabbing the new partner of an ex in 1992 and three other offences of common assault.