Man who doused girlfriend in petrol and set her on fire 20 years ago in 'Reservoir Dogs' fantasy jailed for murder
28 October 2022, 14:43 | Updated: 28 October 2022, 14:52
A man has been jailed for murder, after a woman he doused in petrol and set on fire died more than 20 years later.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Stephen Paul Craig served 15 years in prison for attacking mother-of-two Jacqueline Kirk in 1998, as well as for raping her.
Ms Kirk survived the attack but suffered horrific burns to more than a third of her body.
She died in August 2019 aged 62 after her diaphragm collapsed, and prosecutors argued Craig's attack was to blame. He was arrested again in June 2021.
Jemma Mitchell sentenced for 34 years for Deborah Chong murder
Craig tied Ms Kirk to a chair in a car park in Weston-Super-Mare before setting her ablaze, in a fantasy apparently inspired by the ultra-violent Quentin Tarantino film Reservoir Dogs.
Over a three-week trial, medical experts told the jury how Craig's actions had made a "more than minimal" contribution to Ms Kirk's death.
The jury unanimously found Craig guilty of murder on Friday afternoon.
Police bodycam shows Jemma Mitchell being arrested for murder
Mrs Justice Stacey thanked the jury for their work during the trial, telling them: "By your verdict, you have ensured that justice has been done and there is closure for Ms Kirk's family.
"That is hugely important and it is your role over the past three weeks that has enabled that to happen."
Ms Kirk's family shouted "yes" and wept after the verdict was delivered.
Ms Kirk died in hospital from a ruptured diaphragm caused by her intestines swelling, with the level of scarring to her chest and abdomen meaning they could not expand.
Bristol Crown Court heard a decision was made not to operate on Ms Kirk given her frailty and health problems.
Prosecuting, Richard Smith KC told jurors that the severe burns inflicted on Ms Kirk - including to her face, neck, chest, torso, thighs and buttock - played a "significant" part in her death.
"Therefore, we say that good sense and the law says that this defendant should be accountable for the full consequences of what he did," Mr Smith said.
"The prosecution says that this defendant can be described as having murdered the victim."
He told jurors the law did not demand that Ms Kirk's injuries were the sole cause or the main cause of her death.
Read more: Manhunt after commuter pushed onto train tracks in random attack at London tube station
"All the law demands is that the contribution made by the scarring was more than minimal," Mr Smith said.
Mr Smith alleged that the scarring also made a contribution to the decision of doctors not to operate on Ms Kirk.
Christopher Tehrani KC, defending Craig, told the trial that it was wrong to assert that the scarring explained the rupture Ms Kirk suffered.
He said the decision not to operate appeared to be based on Ms Kirk's frailty and other illnesses, rather than the injuries suffered in 1998.
Craig, of Brailsford Road, York, accepted that he had committed the attack on Ms Kirk - meaning the murder trial was limited to medical evidence.
