Dad who found daughter 'slaughtered' at Nottinghamshire home says family are 'living a nightmare'

The father of a woman who was brutally murdered in her Nottinghamshire home has said it was "absolutely terrible" finding his daughter "slaughtered".

Graham Tinkley found his daughter Clair Ablewhite, 47, dead at her home in Hall Lane, Colston Bassett, in Nottinghamshire, on the evening of Friday 25 February 2022.

Ms Ablewhite was stabbed multiple times in the chest by a man in his 20s who she had met on a dating website.

John Jessop, of Sherwood Avenue, Newark, pleaded guilty to murdering Ms Ablewhite.

He was sentenced to life in prison after he cycled 17 miles to brutally murder the mother-of-three, who he had previously been in an intimate relationship with.

Ms Ablewhite's father says the family have been "completely destroyed" by Ms Abelwhite's murder.

He believes life in prison with a minimum term of 17 years and eight months is not a life sentence.

The 75-year-old said: "He [Jessop] had no remorse. He actually planned to do it that night.

"It was caught on video all her screaming for two minutes when she was attacked. The sentence is just not long enough."He brutally murdered her. He destroyed our lives. At the end of the day, 17 years and eight months is not a life sentence.

"He will still be young when he gets out. I do not want him to ever get out of prison ever again. Because he could do that to somebody else."

Mr Tinkley found his daughter's body at her home in Colston Bassett at around 6:20pm on February 26 last year.

The 75-year-old said he called the emergency services and began performing CPR on his daughter's body before police arrived. 

Discovering his daughter's lifeless body has caused Mr Tinkley to suffer from nightmares.

Originally from Cropwell Bishop, just five minutes from Colston Bassett, Mr Tinkley said: "It was absolutely terrible. It is all still a nightmare."

"We are thinking about it all the time, we cannot even go for a walk."

Mr Tinkley added his wife, Sandra Tinkley, had been diagnosed with cancer shortly after Ms Ablewhite's death and had linked the murder to triggering the diagnosis.

"Our lives have been destroyed. My wife got cancer since that happened because she smoked so many cigarettes to cope with it all," he said.

Sandra Tinkley, 72, was diagnosed with cancer last October and is undergoing chemotherapy. Her husband said she has had 20per cent of her lung removed.

Mrs Tinkley said: "Nobody can imagine what my husband went through. We are living a nightmare and it will never go away."

Clair Ablewhite's parents said the 47-year-old moved to Hall Lane to start a new life after her divorce from her husband who she married at 19 and shared three sons with.

They added she was "very popular and loved, and would stop and talk to anyone."

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