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Man who killed former partners pleads guilty to murdering ex-girlfriend Man who killed former partners pleads guilty to murdering ex-girlfriend
(about 2 hours later)
A man with previous convictions for killing two women has pleaded guilty to murdering his former girlfriend. A man who killed two women he was in relationships with is facing life in prison after pleading guilty to murdering a third woman.
Theodore Johnson, 64, admitted killing Angela Best, a 51-year-old mother of four, by beating her with a claw hammer and throttling her with a dressing gown cord on 15 December 2016. On the first day of his trial at the Old Bailey in London, Theodore Johnson, 63, admitted to attacking his girlfriend Angela Best with a claw hammer and then strangling her with a cord in December 2016.
After attacking her in his home in Islington, north London, Johnson attempted to kill himself. His guilty plea means it can now be reported that Johnson was previously twice convicted of manslaughter. In 1981, he killed his then wife, Yvonne Johnson, by throwing her off a balcony. After his release he went on to kill his new partner, Yvonne Bennett, 11 years later.
Johnson, who worked in a garage, had previously been convicted of killing his wife by throwing her off a balcony in 1981 and strangling another former partner in 1993. Johnson will be sentenced for killing Best on Friday.
The defendant had initially pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Best. He admitted her murder on the first day of his trial at the Old Bailey in London on Tuesday. Hours after killing her, he threw himself in front of a train at Cheshunt railway station in Hertfordshire, losing both his arms.
Johnson killed Best after their relationship broke down and she started seeing another man. The couple had met in 1995 after she moved to London from Manchester with her children. When police searched Johnson’s home in Islington, north London, they discovered Best’s body in the living room with a dressing gown cord wrapped around her neck and a blood-stained hammer nearby.
It can now be reported that the defendant had a history of violence towards women, having been twice convicted of manslaughter before. The Johnson, who uses a wheelchair, had initially pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Best by diminished responsibility but denied murder. But in a last-minute change of plea he admitted the murder charge, as prosecutor Mark Heywood QC was preparing to open the case to the jury.
In November 1981, Johnson was convicted by a jury at Sheffield crown court of the manslaughter of his wife Yvonne Johnson. After an argument, he hit the mother of two with a vase before pushing her over the balcony of their ninth floor flat in Wolverhampton. The plea means it can be revealed that in November 1981, Johnson was convicted by a jury at Stafford crown court of killing his then wife.
In March 1993, Johnson was convicted at the Old Bailey of killing his partner Yvonne Bennett, by diminished responsibility. The couple, who had a daughter together, had moved from Wolverhampton to Finsbury Park in north London, where Johnson strangled Bennett with a belt after she had an affair with another man. Following an argument, he hit Yvonne Johnson with a vase before pushing her over the balcony of their ninth-floor flat in Wolverhampton. Then in March 1993, he was convicted at the Old Bailey of killing his then partner, Yvonne Bennett, by diminished responsibility.
Best’s two sisters sat in court as Johnson entered his guilty plea as his murder trial was about to be opened to a jury by Mark Heywood QC, prosecuting. The couple, who had a daughter together, had moved from Wolverhampton to Finsbury Park in north London, where Johnson strangled Bennett with a belt after she had begun a relationship with another man.
The judge, Richard Marks QC, remanded the defendant in custody until sentencing on Friday. After his release from a psychiatric unit, Johnson met Best in 1995 after she moved to Tottenham in north London from Manchester with her four children.
Best’s two sisters watched in in court as Johnson entered his guilty plea.
He was remanded in custody, and will be sentenced on Friday.
Heywood said: “This is a man who is controlling and violent to the women in his life and who, when crossed, will kill.”
Best was initially unaware of Johnson’s previous convictions but later found letters revealing he had killed a previous partner.
Johnson was described by Best’s children as abusive and controlling and he once punched her after she found out he had cheated on her.
Their relationship finally ended in the autumn 2016 as she began seeing another man. Johnson then began stalking her near her home in Tottenham.
On 14 December of that year Best told her daughter she was going to see Johnson the next day to accompany him to an appointment at the Jamaican embassy.
She is believed to have arrived at his home around 9.20am and later that morning her son Fabian Collins tried to ring her and got no answer.
Police found her body with a dressing gown belt tied twice around her neck. A postmortem revealed she had been hit at least six times over the head with a hammer.
Heywood said: “She did nothing whatsoever to bring any violence in her direction: she had gone to his home to help him with an appointment he had that day.
“Instead of accepting her help the defendant set on her with brutal, merciless violence. He did it for a simple reason: after all that time she was no longer prepared to remain with him and his controlling ways.
“She had recently met another and began a new chapter in her life, seeing that other man. The defendant is someone who would rather that she did not live if that life was to be with anyone but him. And so, quite simply he killed her.”