Emily Sanderson murder: Man jailed for killing woman with dumbbell

Mark Nicholls pleaded guilty to the murder in Sheffield in May of Emily Sanderson

The last moments of a woman who was bludgeoned to death with a dumbbell were played in court as her killer was jailed for life.

In a recorded phone call to a taxi firm, Emily Sanderson, 50, was heard screaming after Mark Nicholls attacked her while she rang for a cab from his house in Sheffield in May.

Her naked body was found wrapped in packing paper 11 days later.

Nicholls, 43, was jailed on Friday for a minimum of 17 years and six months.

Sheffield Crown Court had heard that during his attack, the Royal Mail worker struck mother-of-three Ms Sanderson at least 13 times in the head with the dumbbell in what Judge Jeremy Richardson KC described as a "relentless avalanche of violence".

The judge told a sentencing hearing the defendant committed a "ferociously violent and sustained attack on a defenceless and vulnerable woman".

Prosecutor Sam Green KC said Ms Sanderson had worked as an escort and had gone to see Nicholls, who was one of her clients, at his home on Crofton Avenue in Hillsborough on 19 May.

The court heard a recording of a phone call to City Taxis that evening in which Ms Sanderson asked for a cab from the address before the conversation was interrupted by muffled screams and Nicholls swearing at Ms Sanderson.

A series of thuds was heard in the recording, before the call handler hung up, seemingly unaware of the attack.

Ms Sanderson was reported missing to South Yorkshire Police on 25 May.

Officers who raided Nicholls' house five days later found her body in a downstairs bedroom wrapped "akin to a parcel" in several layers of packaging paper, Judge Richardson said.

Mark Nicholls accepted he had caused "unspeakable anguish and considerable heartbreak", the court heard

Her arms and legs had been bound with parcel tape and her clothes were found stashed in a bin bag in the house's cellar.

A post-mortem examination found she had suffered extensive skull fractures and died of head injuries.

In a statement read in court on behalf of her family, Ms Sanderson's mother, Christine Shann, said: "The manner in which she was taken will haunt us together."

"We will always be reliving this time and wondering if we could have done more to protect her", she said, describing Ms Sanderson as "an incredible person".

Ms Shann added: "It is impossible to overstate the emotional damage wrought by her murder.

"Her son and two daughters have lost their mother. Emily and her kids adored and cared for each other, they needed her in their lives and she has been stolen."

Family and friends sitting in the public gallery wore t-shirts bearing Ms Sanderson's picture and name alongside a message describing her as "one in a million".

Mark Nicholls was jailed at Sheffield Crown Court for a minimum of 17 years and six months

The court heard that the day after the murder, Nicholls and a female companion travelled by train from Sheffield to Malton, North Yorkshire, where they drank in two pubs and visited a pizza restaurant.

"It appears you were enjoying yourself," Judge Richardson told the defendant, adding that Ms Sanderson's family had endured "several days of anguish" not knowing what had happened to her.

After returning to Sheffield, Nicholls was seen digging a hole in his garden, which the judge said he had "no doubt" was part of an "irrational plan to bury the body".

Nicholls handed himself in to police on 1 June after admitting to his parents what he had done.

He initially claimed Ms Sanderson had attacked him with a knife and tried to rob him, but the defendant's barrister, Jamie Hill KC, said Nicholls now acknowledged this was a lie.

He said the defendant had been under the influence of alcohol and crack cocaine at the time of the "horrific" murder and "cannot believe he would have intended to kill somebody".

Nicholls pleaded guilty to murder on 8 September and Mr Hill said the defendant accepted he had caused "unspeakable anguish and considerable heartbreak".

'Truly wicked act'

Sentencing Nicholls, Judge Richardson said the defendant had "perpetrated a brutal murder" of a "much-loved daughter and mother".

He added: "Her family have been haunted what happened to her. It was a truly wicked act."

Following the sentencing, Det Ch Insp Andrea Bowell, of South Yorkshire Police, said Nicholls "snatched away the life of a daughter, a sister and a mother in a fit of rage" before attempting to "place the blame for her death on Emily herself".

"He has shown no real remorse for his truly horrific actions and the subsequent torture he has put her family through," she added.

The South Yorkshire force said on the advice of the Independent Office for Police Conduct, it was conducting an investigation into its handling of reports of concerns for the welfare of Ms Sanderson, who had previously been reported missing,

A force spokesperson said the investigation was ongoing and they could not comment further.