by A mother-of-four and her new partner were “killed” by an obsessive ex-boyfriend four days after she reported him to the police.
Marcus Osborne, 35, of Harpe Inge, Dalton in West Yorkshire, has been given a life sentence at Leeds Crown Court for murdering his ex-partner Katie Higton and her new boyfriend Steven Harnett, 25.
Ms Higton, 27, told West Yorkshire police she feared Osborne would seriously harm or kill her, after he repeatedly threatened to kill her if she found another boyfriend.
Days later, he brutally beat her and Mr Harnett at her home in Huddersfield on 15 May 2023, and both were pronounced dead at the scene.
Osborne said: “Romeo and Juliet can now die together” after the brutal double slaying which left Ms Higton and Mr Harnett with 99 injuries and 24 wounds including genital mutilations.
A family member shouted “I hope you rot in hell” from the public gallery as Osborne was led away.
The judge, Mr Justice Lambert, said the killings were “sexual in nature” and caused by Osborne’s “pathological jealousy”.
She told Osborne: “They were motivated by sexual jealousy over Katie’s decision to start a new relationship with Steven.”
“I don’t accept (the murders) being explained by your insecurity about being abandoned as a result of a neglected childhood,” she said.
“Everything you did was motivated by sex and your need for sexual humiliation and degradation.”
The judge added that Ms Higton’s murder was a “merciless and sustained attack on a completely defenseless woman”.
She said during the attack, which began “before (Miss Higton) even went through the front door”, Osborne was heard saying: “I warned you I was going to kill you… this is your fault this is happening.”
He then raped another woman, who was held captive in the house overnight, at knife point. The court heard that there were four children in the house at the time of the murders.
The judge said the woman held captive in the house described Osborne washing himself between the killings, laughing and joking, even later inviting a neighbor into the living room to see the bodies “as if you are proud of what you have done”.
The court heard that Osborne was staying with Ms Higton and launched a brutal attack on her as soon as she came through the door of the home they once shared in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire.
Osborne then used Miss Higton’s phone to pretend to be her and lure Mr Harnett to the house.
Jonathan Sandiford KC, prosecuting, said: “The defendant committed a premeditated and brutal double murder motivated by sexual jealousy, a desire to control Katie Higton, a willingness to accept her decision to leave him and her freedom to form a relationship with another man . “
Mr Higton was in a relationship with Osborne for five years, but she left him in early May last year after an attack on April 28 which was “the last straw”.
She later told police the relationship had been “coercive, controlling and physically abusive” over the past two years and she had been regularly assaulted, including one incident when he threw a cat at her, the court heard.
Osborne also has convictions for violent offenses against two previous partners in 2011 and 2012, Mr Sandiford said.
In the days leading up to the murders, Mr Higton told West Yorkshire police that Osborne told her “he would slit her throat if she said what he had done”, and that “if she ever got a boyfriend he would kill them both “.
Osborne was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence offenses on May 12 and bailed on conditions not to return to their home, but spied on her in the following days before taking a taxi to the home on the night of the murders.
At the time the murder was reported, professionals were holding an urgent meeting to discuss ways to protect Ms Higton and her four children.
The court heard he found out about the developing relationship between Ms Higton and Mr Harnett by hacking into her Snapchat account.
A victim personal statement read to Ms Higton’s mother, Nicola McAlister, in court said Osborne was “a monster of the worst kind”.
Osborne pleaded guilty to two counts of murder and other offences. The judge also imposed concurrent sentences of 10 years for the rape and false imprisonment of the other woman in the house.
She told Osborne: “There are no mitigating factors in your case apart from your guilty plea. I have not been presented with any psychiatric or other evidence to explain or help me understand your actions.
“This is such a serious case that even a very long minimum term would not be a direct punishment. What you did that night was terrible.”
Following her death, family and friends of Miss Higton paid tribute to her as “the best mum” and said the family were “overwhelmed” as they laid flowers for her two eldest children at the scene .
Mr Higton’s ex-brother, who asked not to be named, said his brother had been in a relationship with the mother-of-four for seven years and was the father of her two eldest children, daughters aged nine and 10 age.
He described Ms Higton as “bubbly, outgoing, fun” and a “wonderful mum”.
