The heartbroken mother of a schoolgirl stabbed to death by a teenager who was obsessed with murder wept and asked 'why her?' as her killer was jailed today.
Leonne Weeks's body was found hidden under a sofa on a pathway in Dinnington, near Rotherham, South Yorkshire, in January last year. The 16-year-old had been stabbed 28 times in her head and upper body.
Shea Heeley admitted murder last month and was jailed for life today. He will serve a minimum term of 24 and a half years before he can apply for parole.
The court heard the 19-year-old, who hardly knew his victim, had developed a fascination with murders and fantasized about 'hitting people with hammers'.
Six months before the shocking murder, Heeley had dialled 999 from outside a pub whilst holding a machete. He told the operator he was going to kill the next person he met but was arrested by police and later assessed as being dangerous.
Heeley had known his victim for 18 months and they met again at a party two days before the killing in their home town.
The court heard how, after his arrest, he said he had always known that he would kill someone and later told staff in a secure mental hospital: 'I like that I have done it, I just do. I like killing.'
As he was led from court, someone in the packed public gallery shouted: 'Do us all a favour and hang yourself.'
Judge Paul Watson QC said Heeley had befriended Leonne about a year before, as they were both from Dinnington, and they had been at a party together two days before the killing, on January 15, 2017.
He deliberately targeted her to satisfy his interest in killing and invited her to the dark path.
The judge said: 'In short, this was a pre-planned, brutal and pitiless killing of an innocent young girl who had her whole life before her.'
Prosecutor Tim Roberts QC said Heeley had told a nurse in custody 'he had always known that he would kill someone from an early age'.
He said that he 'did not feel anything'.
Heeley said: 'I'll go to prison or hospital, but probably prison. If that's what it takes to stop me killing people, that's where I need to go.'
At Rampton top security hospital, he admitted killing Leonne.
Mr Roberts said: 'He said he could hear her screams. He grabbed her by the throat and stabbed her. He said he had deliberately selected that place to meet her as it was secluded and he intended to harm her. He said he heard voices telling him to kill her and he had demons inside him.'
The court heard that Heeley had not been diagnosed with a mental illness, but may have an emerging personality disorder.