Woman killed by released rapist

A woman was murdered by a violent sex attacker who had been released from prison just nine months earlier, an inquest heard.

The hearing at Winchester Crown Court into the death of multiple sclerosis sufferer Naomi Bryant, 40, was taking place yesterday almost five years after she was strangled and stabbed to death by Anthony Rice, 48, at her home.

Rice was on licence at a probation hostel in Otterbourne, Winchester, Hampshire, when he killed the mother-of-one, the inquest was told.

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Rice, who had a string of serious previous convictions, had been freed nine months earlier after serving 15 years of a 10-year minimum term imposed at the Old Bailey in 1989 for attempted rape.

And the jury heard concerns had been raised at Wakefield Prison where he previously underwent several treatments including a sex offenders programme, an attitude to women course and an anger management course, because of the limited progress he had made and his admitted "sexualisation of women" and deep-seated anger towards them.

Coroner Grahame Short said the cause of Ms Bryant's death was murder but the inquest, which is expected to last up to three weeks, would look into the issues surrounding the killing.

The hearing was told a post- mortem examination showed Ms Bryant had been stabbed 15 times to the chest and once to the neck and had been strangled with a ligature, with the cause of death being pressure to the neck and multiple stab wounds.

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A critical report by chief inspector of probation Andrew Bridges released in 2006 found that there were "substantial deficiencies" in supervision by probation and other officials in Hampshire. He concluded that officials were sidetracked by considering Rice's human rights above their duty to the public.

Detective Inspector David Crouch, of Hampshire Police, told the hearing that Ms Bryant, an alcoholic, met Rice in a pub in Winchester on August 13, 2005, a few days before he killed her.

Mr Crouch told the court that when police arrived at Ms Bryant's home they found "a lot of blood" between the bedroom and bathroom. Her body was found hidden under a mattress between two sections of the bed which had been pulled apart.

He said that Rice was arrested the following day in London where he had bought a ticket to return to Scotland, where he had grown up.

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Mr Crouch said that Rice confessed during police interview to the killing and told officers that there had not been a sexual motive to the crime.

He also said that if it had not been Ms Bryant he would have killed someone else and he had chosen her because she was an "easy target".

Rice was given a life sentence for the murder of Ms Bryant, in October 2005, with a minimum term of 25 years imposed. The inquest heard he had 22 previous convictions prior to the murder dating back to 1972 when he was aged 15. These included a number of rapes and indecent assaults.

Dr Siriol David, a forensic psychologist who carried out a review of Rice's psychiatric assessments on behalf of the Prison Service, said he described himself while in prison as a "dangerous rapist".

The jury inquest is being held after human rights charity Liberty lobbied on behalf of Ms Bryant's mother, Verna Bryant.

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