'Oddball' who raped and murdered India Chipchase jailed for life

ITV News correspondent, Richard Pallot, reports:

An "oddball" who killed a 20-year-old barmaid he met in a drunken state outside a Northampton nightclub has been jailed for life.

Edward Tenniswood, 52, raped and strangled India Chipchase in the early hours of January 30. He was sentenced to serve a minimum of 30 years in prison.

He claimed he had "consensual sex" with her after promising to "get her home safe".

But instead he attacked her leaving her with over 30 injuries on her body which he later said were caused by his "over-eagerness" in bed.

However there were signs of a struggle as his blood was found under Miss Chipchase's fingernail, and scratches were found on his neck and arm.

After killing her, Tenniswood "cuddled up" to her lifeless body before getting a kebab and drinking in a hotel bar for 22 hours until police came to arrest him.

  • 'Fantasist'

Self-obsessed fantasist Edward Tenniswood was an "oddball" who kept newspaper clippings of pretty women as house "ornaments".

He claimed he kept the pictures in his home, which was covered in dust sheets and cling film, as "memories of ex-girlfriends".

And once claimed to have dated a famous cover star who he said in court bore a striking resemblance to Miss Chipchase.

But he turned his sick fantasies into violent reality when he found India Chipchase in a drunken state and took her back there.

When police smashed down the door of his house, having traced Ms Chipchase's mobile to the address, they found her fully-clothed body lying on a mattress in a dimly-lit upstairs bedroom.

A sheet was drawn up to her chin and her long black hair had been arranged by Tenniswood in what police described as a "halo".

India had more than 30 on her body when she died. Credit: Midlands Police

  • Violence

At first he was thought of as a harmless fantasist but details emerged proving he was more than that.

Tenniswood once pinned a teenage girl up against a wall by her throat and tried to kiss her.

He also lied to a neighbour about having been in the Army and that he was "trained to kill" with his bare hands.

Originally from London, Tenniswood said he had not been to the nightclub where he met Miss Chipchase for 10 years and rarely went out because of his OCD.

But in fact he was captured on CCTV trying to get into the nightspot two weeks before he found Ms Chipchase.

  • CCTV: The moment India was approached by the killer

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