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| Triple killer Theodore Johnson jailed for 26 years | Triple killer Theodore Johnson jailed for 26 years |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A man who killed three former partners has been jailed for a minimum of 26 years. | A man who killed three former partners has been jailed for a minimum of 26 years. |
| Theodore Johnson, 64, beat and throttled ex-girlfriend Angela Best after she met another man. | Theodore Johnson, 64, beat and throttled ex-girlfriend Angela Best after she met another man. |
| He already had two manslaughter convictions. He pushed his wife off a ninth-floor balcony in 1981 and strangled a former partner in 1993. | He already had two manslaughter convictions. He pushed his wife off a ninth-floor balcony in 1981 and strangled a former partner in 1993. |
| Johnson met Ms Best while on unescorted leave from a secure mental hospital. | Johnson met Ms Best while on unescorted leave from a secure mental hospital. |
| He beat her with a claw hammer and strangled her with her dressing gown cord at his north London home on 15 December 2016. | He beat her with a claw hammer and strangled her with her dressing gown cord at his north London home on 15 December 2016. |
| Their relationship had recently ended after she met someone else. | Their relationship had recently ended after she met someone else. |
| Sentencing, Judge Richard Marks QC said: "The attack by you on Angela Best was sustained, vicious and utterly brutal. She suffered an unimaginably terrible death." | |
| "Such repeated offending, resulting in three separate court cases, must be almost unprecedented," he added. | |
| Hours after attacking Ms Best, 51, the garage worker threw himself in front of an express train. | Hours after attacking Ms Best, 51, the garage worker threw himself in front of an express train. |
| He survived but lost his right arm and left hand. | He survived but lost his right arm and left hand. |
| Police only discovered Ms Best's body when they called at Johnson's flat in Islington to find his next of kin after the incident at Cheshunt railway station, in Hertfordshire. | Police only discovered Ms Best's body when they called at Johnson's flat in Islington to find his next of kin after the incident at Cheshunt railway station, in Hertfordshire. |
| In mitigation for Johnson, Annette Henry QC said: "He does not wish to be alive. He hates himself for what happened." | |
| The killer, who now uses a wheelchair, pleaded guilty to murdering the mother-of-four and grandmother on the first day of his trial on Tuesday. | |
| Secret relationship | |
| Johnson, who suffered from a personality disorder and depression, was on unescorted leave from a secure mental hospital when he met Ms Best. | |
| Johnson successfully applied for a conditional discharge from the hospital in October 1997. | |
| He was released on the condition he would tell doctors and social workers about any new relationships with women. | |
| However, he kept his relationship with Ms Best a secret, the Old Bailey heard. | |
| She only found out he had killed a previous partner when she discovered letters and confronted him, the court heard. | |
| Ms Henry said the "self-reporting" aspect of the mental health tribunal's restriction on Johnson was flawed. | |
| Johnson was last seen by a social worker and psychiatrist days before the murder. | |
| He was not found to be depressed and continued to deny being in a relationship. |