Schoolgirl's killer sentenced to life

A man who handcuffed and stabbed to death a 16-year-old schoolgirl in his car was jailed for life yesterday.

Darren Cornelius, 33, met Gemma Clarke, a farmer's daughter from Martock, Som-erset, in February in a pub 200 yards from her home where she worked as a part-time caterer. He told her he had an interest in magic and asked if she would be his assistant in a trick involving handcuffs.

But after the two left the pub in Martock, he lured her into his car and drove her to a remote country lane near the village of Stembridge where he handcuffed her and tried to have sex with her.

He then produced a kitchen knife and stabbed her six times in the chest, before removing her underwear and leaving her dead by the side of the road, Bristol Crown Court was told. Later, he returned to move the victim to a lane near the hamlet of West Lambrook. She was found there by a horserider, said Richard Smith QC, for the prosecution.

On the day of the murder Cornelius withdrew some money from his father's account and took a train from Yeovil to Waterloo station in London, where he booked himself into a hotel. He was arrested in the capital the following day after his victim was discovered.

Sentencing Cornelius to life imprisonment, the judge, Mr Justice Maurice Kay, said Gemma was an "intelligent, lively, outgoing, decent girl.

"I have no doubt that she would have achieved much had she lived," he said. "You killed her and in so doing, you brought indescribable loss and grief to her family and friends that will stay with them for ever. This was quite simply a dreadful murder of a young girl. I expect there to be a very long time before anybody even considers your release."

Patrick Mason, in defence of Cornelius, said that he was an "inadequate" man who could not hold down a steady job or relationship and who had been bullied at school.

He said Cornelius could not explain why he had killed Gemma, but said that he was in a "chaotic state of mind". Mr Mason also argued that the defendant deserved credit for pleading guilty to the offence.