Killer gets life day before Scott birthday

Vincent Stanford has been condemned to spend the rest of his life in prison for the brutal rape and murder of NSW teacher Stephanie Scott.

Vincent Stanford (centre) is escorted by correctional service officers

Vincent Stanford has been sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of Stephanie Scott. (AAP)

Vincent Stanford has been sentenced to life in prison with no parole for raping and murdering 26-year-old bride-to-be Stephanie Scott at a NSW school in 2015.

The killer was sentenced at Griffith on Thursday, a day before what would have been Ms Scott's 28th birthday.

Stanford, 25, was given the maximum possible sentence for his bloodthirsty April 2015 attack on the 26-year-old, six days before she was due to marry.

Exclamations of "yes" were heard from the Griffith courthouse public gallery when Supreme Court Justice Robert Allan Hulme handed down the life sentence.

"I am satisfied that this is a case of murder that clearly falls within the worst category," he said.

Outside court, Ms Scott's mother Merrilyn said the family would celebrate her daughter's birthday with a cup of tea and a Mint Slice biscuit at 3pm.

"The past 18 months have been the most difficult and harrowing time," she said outside court.

"So much has been taken away from us. Stephanie has had everything taken away from her."

Stanford, a school cleaner, confessed to murdering Ms Scott on Easter Sunday, 2015, at the Leeton High School where they both worked.

He dragged her into a storeroom and attacked her with his fists and a large knife before dumping her body 70km away in the Cocoparra National Park, where he burned it.

During his summary of the case, Justice Hulme also outlined how Stanford had stalked two women and a 12-year-old schoolgirl before he killed Ms Scott.

Police found more than 1800 images of the schoolgirl in Stanford's possession, and surveillance notes in an exercise book that included times she was home alone, the court heard.


Share

2 min read

Published

Source: AAP



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world