‘A liar and coward’: Love-cheat music teacher Andrew Lindo gets life for murdering fiancee (with video)

Andrew Lindo, 29, showed no emotion as he was jailed for life at Bradford Crown Court for the murder of Marie Stewart.

As Lindo began his sentence, the victim’s father, Robert Stewart, branded her killer a coward who had “lied, misled, abused, cheated and stolen from us on a monstrous scale”.

Lindo, who led a double life dating a string of women, strangled, battered and stabbed 30-year-old Miss Stewart to death before storing her body in a flight bag in the garage of their home, in Holmfirth, West Yorkshire, on December 18 last year.

Hours later Lindo put their two children in his car and went to collect his latest lover, Angela Rylance, then spent the night with her in the bedroom where the murder began.

Lindo, a music teacher, tried to portray himself to the jury as a downtrodden father who was devoted to his children, when in reality he was having affairs with a number of women, including an allegation he was involved with a 15-year-old girl.

The victim’s body was not found for seven weeks, during which time Lindo conned her family she was still alive and had deserted their two children for another man.

Sentencing him, Mr Justice Andrew Smith, said Lindo had shown an “extraordinary and chilling lack of remorse”.

He said the parole board would have to take into account his “extraordinary cunning and facility for deceit” before he was considered for release.

He condemned Lindo for blackening the victim’s name and for sending her family “cruel” text messages to try to convince them she was alive.

“There could hardly be a more heartless device for concealing your crime and Marie’s body and if anything could add to the tragedy and loss of a daughter, sister and friend, that was calculated to do so,” the judge told him.

The judge added: “I cannot tell why you killed Marie Stewart - still less why you killed her so brutally - whether there was a motive and, if so, what it was.

“I do not accept that you were provoked or suffering prolonged stress. But that evening you faced a crisis in the double life that you were leading.

“Within minutes of the killing you were cool and calculating enough to send Angela Rylance a text message assuring her that you would collect her to bring her home.”

The judge said Lindo’s claim that Miss Stewart was mistreating their daughter was “despicable fiction”.

Mr Stewart struggled to control his emotions as he paid tribute to his daughter while describing Lindo’s “evil deceit”.

He said Lindo had “delivered an acting masterclass” as he tried to portray his daughter as a feckless mother who had abandoned her children.

“Andrew Lindo has blighted the lives of his two children forever and caused irreparable pain to us all,” he told reporters outside court.

“It is inconceivable that this man could tell so many lies and cause untold damage to so many people.

“It saddens me enormously that one day very soon his children will have to know exactly what he did to their mother and that we are left to pick up the consequences of his actions.

“Marie will live on in our hearts as a fabulous daughter, sister and loving mum.”

Lindo admitted killing his partner, who cared for children with special needs in school, but denied murder.

He claimed he lost control following a row with Miss Stewart, during which he accused her of mistreating their daughter.

A jury took less than an hour to reject his claim and find him guilty of murder yesterday.

Outside court, Marie Stewart’s tather Robert described Lindo as a coward who had “lied, misled, abused, cheated and stolen from us on a monstrous scale”.

Mr Stewart, who struggled to control his emotions as he paid tribute to his daughter, condemned Lindo’s web of lies.

He was surrounded by other family members, including the victim’s sister Katie, as he made his statement.

He said: “It is difficult to imagine a more gut wrenching experience than to be told that your daughter’s body has been found in the garage of their family home.

“This, compounded by the fact that Andrew Lindo, her so called ‘partner’, had first killed her in the most violent manner and then allowed her body to remain undiscovered for over seven weeks, while he continued within his own fantasy world.

“He has lied, misled, abused, cheated and stolen from us on a monstrous scale.

“He delivered an acting masterclass to the world and his unfortunate female victims and has painted Marie as a lazy, feckless mother who had abandoned her children for a ‘better life’.

“He stopped at nothing to blacken her name in the very worst possible terms. Let me tell you that he has failed.

“He also used his intimate family knowledge to deliver jealous, spiteful and vindictive text messages to me and our family in a further attempt to inflict more pain and to throw us off the scent of his evil deceit.

“He presented and cultivated this image of the perfect father figure whilst juggling affairs with numerous unsuspecting women, often at the same time, to further indulge his enormous ego.

“These were not the actions of a ‘downtrodden and abused’ man as he claimed, and he has lied and cheated relentlessly as well as trying any desperate tactic to save his own skin.

“Andrew Lindo has blighted the lives of his two children forever and caused irreparable pain to us all.

“It is inconceivable that this man could tell so many lies and cause untold damage to so many people.

“His failure to take the stand shows that he is a coward of the first order.

“It saddens me enormously that one day very soon his children will have to know exactly what he did to their mother and that we are left to pick up the consequences of his actions.

“Marie will live on in our hearts as a fabulous daughter, sister and loving mum.”

Detective Superintendent Dick Nuttall of West Yorkshire Police, said the roots of the crime lay in Lindo’s “selfishness”.

He said the killing was a “cool, cruel and deliberate act”.

Lindo had embarked on an “elaborate charade” to fool family and friends that she was still alive.

“Once Andrew Lindo was arrested, he has sought to minimise or avoid his responsibility for his actions.

“Whether that be in the cruel use of text messages and Facebook to convince people that Marie was alive, through to his lies and crocodile tears in police interviews, and down to the ultimate low which was in trying to blacken Marie Stewart’s character before and during this trial.”

He said Lindo’s behaviour had “inspired widespread revulsion” among his officers.

The Crown Prosecution Service described Lindo as an “accomplished liar” who had forced the family to endure a trial.

A statement said: “The jury saw through his lies and Lindo is now facing a substantial sentence in jail. Our thoughts are with Marie’s family and friends at this terrible time and we hope that today’s verdict can bring them some measure of closure.”