Martin Bell admits killing Gemma Simpson in "frenzied" attack 14 years ago

A man has admitted killing a woman in a "frenzied" attack with a hammer and a knife before burying her at a North Yorkshire beauty spot.

Taxi driver Martin Bell said God told him to kill 23-year-old Gemma Simpson when she was at his flat in Harrogate 14 years ago in May 2000.

Bell pleaded guilty to manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility when he appeared at Leeds Crown Court.

The 45-year-old, who handed himself into police earlier this year, said he gave Miss Simpson the opportunity to get away but killed her after he thought she had threatened his children.

Simon Myerson QC told the court Bell launched a "frenzied" attack in which he repeatedly struck Miss Simpson with a hammer and then stabbed her in the back and neck an "enormous" and "uncountable" number of times with a kitchen knife.

Mr Myerson said: "His intent was for her not to be in pain."

Bell filled a bath with water and left Miss Simpson in it for four days with her hands tied behind her back because he was "frightened she would come back to life".

Mr Myerson said Bell closed the shower curtain so he did not have to see the body and repainted his flat with lilac paint to cover the blood stains.

He hired a car but found that he could not fit Miss Simpson's body in the boot, so he sawed off the bottom of his victim's legs.

Bell, who has been diagnosed with psychotic illness, told police he did this "as fast as I could so I wasn't sick".

He wrapped Miss Simpson's body in a sleeping bag and secured it with chains and a padlock "so she couldn't get out".

He then drove her to Brimham Rocks, near Harrogate, where he dug a hole with a shovel and buried her.