'Sadistic psychopath' who murdered Cambridgeshire teenager in 1987 jailed for earlier rape

A "sadistic psychopath" who raped and murdered a teenage girl in 1987 has been sentenced for the rape, kidnap and assault of a second victim in the lead-up to the killing.

Colin Hill, 61, was found guilty in 1987 of the rape and murder of 17-year-old Leanne Scott in Cambridgeshire earlier that year. Hill has since changed his name to Martin Cooper.

He was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 18 years in prison, with the trial judge describing him as a "sadistic psychopath who couldn't be treated by medical science and would be a permanent danger to the public".

Hill was released on licence in 2018 but recalled to prison in November 2019 for allegedly breaching his licence conditions, a virtual hearing at Peterborough Crown Court was told on Wednesday (April 29).

He was later charged with five offences which were unrelated to his recall to prison. These crimes happened between 1984 and 1987, before he murdered Miss Scott, said Sarah Morris, prosecuting.

Hill admitted at a hearing earlier this month to three counts of assault by ABH, one of false imprisonment and one of rape.

Judge Matthew Lowe jailed Hill for seven years for the offences, which were all committed against the same woman, but said that the Parole Board will not release him until it is safe to do so.

Hill was given an indefinite restraining order preventing him from contacting the victim.

Ms Morris said Hill knew 17-year-old Miss Scott as he was friends with her father, who was a member of the local Hells Angels club.

Hill raped Miss Scott, strangled her and shot her in the face with a sawn-off shotgun, the court heard.

Her body was found tied up and Hill had scratched her name into a shotgun cartridge, Ms Morris said.

Weeks before Miss Scott's murder, he assaulted, kidnapped and raped another woman, Ms Morris said.

Hill repeatedly struck the woman's head against a wall and in a further assault the next day, he grabbed her round the neck and slapped her to the side of the head.

He drove the woman to some woods, raped her in his car then held her against her will.

She escaped by hiding in another car in a pub car park, Ms Morris said.

In an earlier assault in 1984, Hill pushed the woman to the floor and kicked her repeatedly in the stomach while she was pregnant, the court heard.

The baby died after it was born.

The woman told Hill, through a victim impact statement that she read during the hearing: "I hope you will never be released so you can't cause any further pain."

Carl Woolf, mitigating, said Hill was remorseful and he noted the "passage of time" since the offending.