Labourer jailed for 'sadistic' murder of dog walker

Labourer John Pope was jailed for life with a minimum term of 19 years today for murdering dog walker Karen Skipper 13 years ago.

The father-of-four, of Fairwater, Cardiff, was only caught after DNA evidence emerged more than a decade after Ms Skipper's half-naked body was found in a river, Cardiff Crown Court heard.

Judge Mr Justice Davis told him Pope was a "devious" man, and added: "This wasn't simply callous, it seems to me that it was almost sadistic."

Divorcee Ms Skipper, 34, was walking pets Ellie and Samson alongside the River Ely, Cardiff, on the night of 9 March, 1996 when Pope attacked her.

He tied her hands behind her back with her dogs' leads and stripped her of her jeans and knickers before leaving her to drown.

Mr Justice Davis said he believed Pope had a sexual motive but did not go through with such an attack because Ms Skipper had lost control of her bowels as she was "petrified".

Pope was interviewed by police as a witness shortly after Ms Skipper's death but was released without charge.

Instead, Ms Skipper's ex-husband Phillip stood trial for murder in 1997. He was acquitted and died of cancer in 2004 at the age of 48.

When Pope was arrested over an unconnected matter in 2006, a DNA sample was taken, which was found to be a match to specks of blood on Ms Skipper's clothing.

Mr Justice Davis said it was a "very great pity" investigations against Pope were not pursued further in 1996 and that no blood or DNA sample was taken from him at the time.

Pope had been reported to police after a colleague noticed an uncanny likeness between the labourer and an e-fit produced by officers investigating the murder.

Mr Justice Davis told Pope: "This is an old offence but that is because you have evaded justice for so long.

"It seems to me that the man who, a stranger, assaulted and killed Karen Skipper that night must be considered dangerous."

He added that Pope was "not just a dangerous man, but a cunning and callous man".

The judge said Pope's conviction after a month-long trial proved to the world that Mr Skipper was an innocent man, and added: "It is owed to the memory of him that this be publicly stated."

He said Pope had closely followed Mr Skipper's trial, and told him: "It is difficult to think but that you were hoping that he would be convicted, because if he were convicted, then the real truth would never thereafter emerge."

The court heard Pope is illiterate, but Mr Justice Davis said that did not mean he was unintelligent.

Branding Pope a "cunning" and "devious" man, the judge said Pope had fabricated a story to explain how his blood came to be on Ms Skipper's jeans.

Pope had claimed Ms Skipper tended to a wound on his hand after her dog bit him outside a shop three weeks before her death.

Mr Justice Davis said to Pope: "Of course you have known all along what really happened. You have always remembered the events of March 9, 1996."

The judge said it was a "brutal murder" in which Ms Skipper was thrown into the river alive.

He added: "What her thoughts may have been in the final moments in her life do not bear thinking about.

"But you are not the sort of man to let that trouble you, not then or subsequently."

Pope, of Cherwell Close, Fairwater, did not react as he was led from the dock to begin his sentence.

Mark Evans QC, defending Pope, said no "serious violence" had been used in the murder, and told the court his client was "not a well man".

He said Pope looked as if he had aged 12 years during the time already spent in custody, and added: "A sentence is going to sit very hard on him."

There were cries of "Yes" as the minimum term of Pope's sentence was revealed.

Speaking after yesterday's conviction, Ms Skipper's family said "justice has now been done".