Marcus Coates guilty of woman's sex strangle death
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Marcus Coates, left, and victim
Jennie Banner
by Keith Hunt
A twisted killer who strangled a former prostitute with a belt
during a sex session faces being locked up indefinitely after a
jury convicted him of manslaughter.
Marcus Coates, of Ernest Road,
Chatham, was cleared of murdering Jennie Banner by a jury at
Maidstone Crown Court this afternoon.
Her body was left under a duvet for
five days.
Adjourning sentence on 44-year-old
Coates until March 2, Judge Philip Statman said he wanted a
report on dangerousness.
He told Coates' lawyer: "I take the view at the moment your
client is a dangerous man and I am considering imprisonment for
public protection or the possibility of a discretionary life
sentence."
Three women on the jury wept on hearing after the verdicts that
Coates had previously been convicted of a terrifying sex attack on
a woman in front of her young child.
The violent pervert left his victim with blood pouring from her
face after cutting her with a knife and a razor.
He was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court in April 1999 to
five years' jail with an extended licence period of five years.
Jennie Banner's body was
found in a flat in this block in Chatham High Street
Coates denied both the murder and manslaughter of Jennie Banner,
but did not give evidence.
He put the belt around Miss Banner's neck and tightened it until
she passed out and died.
Her body, wearing only a T-shirt pulled up over her breasts, was
left under a duvet in the bedroom of her Chatham flat with the belt
still fastened around her neck.
Coates did not report the matter until five days after her
death.
Christopher May, prosecuting, told Maidstone Crown Court it was
a case of murder and not an accident, as Coates claimed.
Miss Banner, who was 32, had worked as a prostitute, but was not
said to be interested in bondage or "auto-erotic asphyxiation".
More than 100 mourners
attended Jennie Banner's funeral
Coates went to her home in a block of flats at Five Ways Court
on August 14 last year.
He said they took drugs together in the living room and she
asked him to put the belt around her neck and she pulled it tight
during sexual activity.
Coates said he was unable to release the belt, which had an
extra hole made in it to reduce the circumference to 26.4cm
(10.4in).
The court heard Coates had on his mobile phone a photo of his
ex-wife Marina Raghunath wearing a dog collar around her neck.
She said in evidence that Coates was the dominant partner when
he would put the collar around her neck eight or nine times during
their marriage from 1995 to 1998 and pull it tight until she
started to pass out.
Moving impact statements by the victim's parents Daphne "Viv"
Horne and David Banner were read out in court.
After the verdict, Jennie’s mother
Vivian Horne said: "Jennie was in the process of turning her life
around. She was very creative and had decided that she wanted to go
to college to study hairdressing and carve out a career for
herself.
"We haven't even begun to deal with the fact that she is no longer here…” – victim Jennie Banner's mother
"She was a generous and loving girl
who was very popular with a large circle of friends. Some of these
had been her friends since she was at school as she was born and
had always lived in the Medway Towns.
"She loved her flat and was very proud
of it. She just wanted to live a normal life. As a family we
haven’t even begun to deal with the fact that she is no longer
here."
Speaking about the impact Jennie’s
death has had on the family, her older sister Sandra, 35, and
younger sister Jaimie, 30, said in a statement together: "She’s a
missing link now between us – she was the middle sister and we miss
her so much.
"She never grew up and was so full of
fun. She had a bright future – we saw that and so did she."
Det Ch Insp Jon Clayden said: "Jennie
Banner had everything to live for and it is a tragedy that her
young life was cut short in such a way. I hope that today’s verdict
will go some way to satisfying her family that justice has been
done.
"It is clear from the judge’s
sentiments after the verdict that he intends to imprison Coates,
who he said was a danger to the public, for a substantial amount of
time."
Thursday, February 02 2012
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