Convicted rapist jailed for life after murdering 21-year-old woman who rejected him
A convicted rapist who murdered a young woman in a sadistic and sexually motivated attack after she rejected him has been jailed for at least 33 years.
Michael Doherty, 38, left Courtney Angus, 21, with 76 injuries before taking indecent images of her and “sexually humiliating her in every way he could imagine”, a court heard.
Doherty, who changed his name from Michael Moore in 2018, has a history of violence towards women who reject him, with convictions for raping a stranger on the way home from a nightclub and torching a former partner’s car.
Leeds Crown Court heard Ms Angus had moved into his house days before her death in July last year, but was not his partner and was clear that she did not want a relationship.
Prosecutor Craig Hassall said Doherty made it clear he liked her, and texted her threatening to kill himself on the day of the murder, adding: “I do find you very attractive, but that doesn’t mean I want a relationship. I do wish I wouldn’t have told you how I felt.”
Ms Angus told him in a message: “It’s not my fault Mikey, I don’t want a relationship, I told you this from the start, I haven’t led you on. I’ve been a good friend to you.”
Mr Hassall said that during the evening of July 25, the two were at Doherty’s house in Norfolk Street in Batley.
He told the court the evidence was that “shortly before her death, Courtney had rejected the offender’s advances towards some sort of intimate relationship between the two of them”.
The court heard that Doherty sexually attacked Ms Angus during the drug-fuelled assault, and cut off parts of her body, “callously” leaving them on his mantelpiece.
A pathologist found that the cause of her death was pressure on the neck, from strangling, coupled with head injuries from blunt force trauma.
The court heard that after taking indecent images of Courtney on his phone, Doherty sent a message to a friend saying: “I’ve killed someone, ring me please.”
The next morning Doherty went on a stealing spree in Batley and nearby Dewsbury, taking three baguettes from Greggs and dropping his phone in a tussle with staff after trying to shoplift from Aldi.
At 9.15pm he was followed out of an Asda store in Dewsbury by staff when he left without paying, and produced a large knife before saying: “I’ll stab you mate, I’ll stab you.”
When police found him in Dewsbury town centre he was brandishing a large knife and told officers: “Get armed response and SIO to me now because I’ve got murder, I’ve got a dead body in my house.”
A statement from Ms Angus’s mother, Diane Angus, said: “Losing my daughter has left a space in my heart that nothing can fill.
“I carry her with me in every thought, every breath, every moment. I wish I could hold her again
“I grieve not only for her but for the life that was taken from us.”
A statement from Chloe Angus on behalf of all Ms Angus’s sisters said seeing her in a mortuary “will never leave our minds”.
It read: “How could someone hurt a young, vulnerable woman in the way that he did?
“Courtney had her whole life ahead of her, she had just turned 21. She was loved deeply by everyone around her. Courtney was the life and soul of every room she walked into.”
The court heard Doherty had 23 previous convictions, including one for raping a woman he did not know in 2013 while pretending to walk her home from a nightclub.
He was jailed for five years, and entered a brief relationship with another woman after he was released, but torched her car when she ended things.
In January this year Doherty pleaded guilty to murdering Ms Angus, theft and three counts of threatening a person with a blade.
Richard Wright KC, defending, said Doherty had been in a “highly intoxicated state clashing with a highly complicated mental health picture at the time”.
He said the defendant wanted to be brought to the court so Ms Angus’s family could see him sentenced, adding: “There is at least the beginning of some insight into what he did and the impact of what he did on others.”
Jailing Doherty for life with a minimum term of 33 years, Judge Guy Kearl, the Recorder of Leeds, said: “You have, by your actions, changed the lives of all of those who knew (Courtney Angus) forever, in particular, her family.
“But worse than that, you took her life in a senseless rage, as I find, after she had rejected you.
“This was not the first time that you had reacted violently towards females who resisted you.”
The judge said: “Although it is plain you wanted a relationship with her, she informed you in clear language that she did not have the same wish or desire.
“As she pointed out to you from the start, she did not want a relationship, she did not lead you on, she was a good friend to you but no more. She could not have been clearer.”
Judge Kearl said: “What you had done after her rejection of you was to sexually humiliate her in every way you could imagine.
“The images (on the phone) show the extent of your depravity.”
He added: “Having been rejected by her you decided to overpower her, both physically and sexually, in order to satisfy yourself, and you took pleasure in doing so.”