'Devil-obsessed Ripper' jailed for 42 years for murdering woman and violating her body

18 March 2022, 16:18 | Updated: 18 March 2022, 16:34

A devil-obssessed delivery driver has been jailed for 42 years after the murder of a woman and violation of her dead or dying body.

Brian Sengendo, 27, was convicted of seven charges, including the murder of Therasia Gordon, 44, as well as attempted murder, kidnap, and rape.

The delivery driver kidnapped and stabbed Ms Gordon before leaving her body in a wooded area in Burntfarm Ride, Enfield on 3 August 2020. Ms Gordon's body was recovered by authorities two days after the murder.

The crimes occurred in the space of just four hours in north London and the court was provided with extensive DNA and CCTV evidence.

Judge John Hillen sentenced Mr Sengendo to a life sentence with a minimum of 42 years and praised the "excellent police work" in bringing him to justice.

"It may well be that a serial killer has been caught at the outset of a murderous campaign"

In addition to the life sentence, Judge Hillen imposed four discretionary life sentences for two kidnaps, rape and attempted murder plus determinate terms of prison for making threats, to run concurrently.

The delivery driver kidnapped vulnerable women by "tricking" them into his van, the Old Bailey heard.

Mr Sengendo denied all charges.

The jurors were discharged with providing verdicts in relation to a fourth victim, including two counts of kidnap and threatening with a knife.

His first victim was a sex worker he picked up in north London and took back to his flat.

In a statement, she said: "We were lying on the bed and Brian started to say lots of weird things.

"His demeanour would go from being light to suddenly aggressive. He was talking about devils and demons and how he worshipped the devil."

Mr Sengendo had in his possession a collection of Tarot cards and phone recordings were found of him talking extensively about the devil.

The court heard how he told one victim to "repeat after me, I'm the Devil's child", as he forced her into a sex act.

He lured another victim into his van before he raped her at knifepoint and stabbed her several times.

She said in a statement: "I could feel the knife pushing against my gut area. The male seemed to enjoy telling me that the knife was there, and he kept asking me if I wanted to die."

Prosecutor John Price said "it was then he started stabbing her with his knife. He did so several times." The victim managed to escape the van and found a police officer.

It was later that same night that Mr Sengendo lured Ms Gordon into his van, before sexually assaulting and murdering her in an act of "extreme violence."

Ms Gordon's mother said in court: "I can't understand why this man made my family live through Therasia's murder day after day through a long and difficult crown court trial.

"He knew what he had done but continued to make my family suffer.

"As a family, we will never get over the fact that I have lost a daughter and they have lost their sibling. I will never come to terms with what this person did to my child. He has left a big hole in my heart."

Chief Superintendent Simon Crick, in charge of policing for Enfield and Haringey, said: “Therasia’s murder and the kidnap of two other women rightly caused significant concern with our community.

"Everyone has the right to feel safe on our streets, no matter who you are or what you do."

Judge Hillen spoke about the vulnerability of sex workers in his closing statement.

"Sex workers - women, men, transgender - remain and will remain vulnerable.

152 sex workers have been murdered since 1990 - a statistic mentioned by Judge Hillen in his concluding remarks.

He added in his closing remarks: "It is that vulnerability you took advantage of when you set out on a determined effort to kidnap, to rape, ultimately to kill a sex worker and then to violate sexually the dead or dying body.

"You are a proven liar and manipulator."