In a bizarre case involving pedophilia, prostitution, and homicide that was wrapped up earlier this year, Stanley Lusty, 64, a father of seven, has been locked up for life in the United Kingdom for murdering his Gloucester prostitute roommate, Sara Tuckey, 34, in April 2007 to prevent her from telling what she knew about his life as a pedophile. Lusty allegedly bludgeoned Tuckey to death in the Parliament Street home they shared, using a sledgehammer after she threatened to go public about his history as an abuser of young girls. He also stabbed her in the throat. According to court proceedings, Lusty had been threatening to throw Tuckey out of their flat, purportedly because of her drug use and the fact that she ruthlessly took advantage of his concerns about his past in order to have a place to live. Lusty attacked Tuckey as she slept.
On the last few days of Tuckey's life, she and Lusty had quarreled over a camera of Lusty's that Tuckey had purportedly pawned. Lusty also claimed that she had attacked him and had given him a black eye, which is when he had asked her to leave in no uncertain terms. But she refused, and the angst continued to build between them over the next few days. On the day that she died, neighbors reported hearing loud voices in the form of arguing coming from their flat, and some said that Lusty's voice had been the loudest.
After the killing, Lusty went to the Gloucester police station where, under the influence of alcohol, he confessed to what he had done.
"I've committed murder," he allegedly said. "I've had enough of her. I've murdered her. I hit her with a hammer and then I stabbed her."
Following his police station confession, officers went to his home where they found Tuckey, clad in jeans and a t-shirt, lying on the bed. She was dead. A sledgehammer lay beside the bed. A large kitchen knife protruded from her throat, where it had been thrust just beneath the chin. The wounds from the sledgehammer attack had rendered her face unrecognizable, requiring positive identification to be made from her fingerprints.
At Lusty's trial the prosecutor, Richard Smith, explained to the jury that Lusty had admitted to a charge of manslaughter when he claimed that the attack against Tuckey was provoked; he was nonetheless tried on murder charges because the prosecution alleged that the attack against Tuckey had been premeditated.
"She had somewhat lost her way in life," Smith said at the trial. "She was a drug user who took heroin and cocaine, and who had done so for a number of years. You may conclude that she funded that addiction through prostitution, as is often the case. She would on occasion behave inappropriately and poorly towards others around her, like many in her situation."
Although Smith indicated that it was unclear whether a sexual relationship had existed between Lusty and Tuckey, they had known each other for at least eight months. Smith also said that evidence showed that she had been using Lusty.
"The defendant was content to allow that, perhaps because he was besotted with the female company and interest," Smith said in court. "Whether or not there was a sexual relationship between them, it was volatile and temperamental."
Smith contended that Lusty had killed Tuckey because he believed that she had "ruined" his life, or was about to do so by exposing him. People had been killed for far less, either to prevent being exposed for something in their past or for revenge after their past had been thrown out in the open for all to see; therefore, the Crown felt that there was sufficient motive involved in the killing.
"He has previous convictions for sexual offenses with young female children," Smith said. "That was something about his life that he didn't want publicized or to be common knowledge. She had threatened to disclose his background. You may ask yourselves if any loss of temper had a deal to do with this worry."
Following a five-day trial, Stanley Lusty was convicted of murdering Sara Tuckey.
"The case has plumbed the well of human unhappiness," said Bristol Crown Court judge Mr. Justice Jack to the defendant at sentencing. "Sara Tuckey was a drug addict and a prostitute, and she was unscrupulous in her dealings with people. She was tough, and a bully. She had a hold over you and threatened to make it public that you were a convicted child sex offender. You decided to kill her because she was destroying your life and you were terrified of being denounced as a sex offender and losing your flat."
In handing down the life sentence, the judge found that Lusty had not planned the killing and ordered that he serve a minimum of 10 years in prison before becoming eligible for parole.
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