05/12/2005

Life sentence for student killer

A man who killed a female law student has been jailed for life.

Christopher Duncan, 21, from Bethnal Green, east London, had pleaded guilty to the murder of Jagdip Najran, 26, last week.

The court heard how Duncan met Ms Najran at a karaoke night a few weeks before the murder, in May 2004.

On the night of the murder, the couple had met in a London bar where Duncan was said to have given an ‘aggressive’ performance of songs by the US rapper Eminem.

Ms Najran then returned to Duncan’s flat, where he battered her over the head with a metal baseball bat and stuffed her body in a suitcase.

The court also heard that that Ms Najran had survived for at least another hour before she died.

A psychiatrist told the court that Duncan was pre-occupied with a fantasy life of sex and violence.

Judge David Paget said that Duncan had “an abnormal and unhealthy interest in violence and, in particular, sexual violence towards women.” He said: “It may be that you posed such a danger to women that it will never be safe to release you.”

Judge Paget recommended that Duncan serve a minimum sentence of 25 years.

(KMcA/SP)

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