Jailed: Life sentence for Whitechapel man who murdered fiancee

Amy Parsons was murdered at her home in Whitechapel. Picture: Met Police (Image: Met Police)

Roderick Deakin-White attacked Amy Parsons with a metal pull-up bar in their Crowder Street home in April this year, then left the flat as she bled to death.

The 38-year-old had admitted to hitting her on the night she died but claimed he had not meant to kill her. But following an Old Bailey trial, he was convicted of murder and today (Tuesday, November 26) was jailed for life with a minimum of 17 years.

Jurors heard how the relationship had grown fraught between the couple, who had been together for around eight years.

Friends spoke of Ms Parsons' displeasure at Deakin-White's increasing tendency to cross-dress, and her developing feelings for a colleague.

The couple would argue and Deakin-White tried to monitor what the 35-year-old Australian was doing, accessing her laptop and spying on her taxi account.

He also began stalking Ms Parsons, following her home from work, and he began to express his anger to friends, messaging one friend to say; "I hate her". To another friend he messaged "I'm going to do something stupid, I just know it."

On the day she died, Ms Parsons had told a friend at lunch that she needed to resolve the situation and would speak to Deakin-White about their relationship.

While she was showering in the flat, Deakin-White attacked her with a metal bar in what a pathologist found was a sustained and forceful assault with a heavy, blunt object. The multiple blows to her head fractured her skull and caused brain damage.

Forensic experts believe she could have been alive for up to an hour after the attack.

Immediately after the attack, he left the Tower Hamlets flat they shared, threw their phones into the Thames and told a man living on a houseboat about the attack.

The man encouraged Deakin-White to hand himself into the police. During this period, Deakin-White also phoned his father saying he was a murderer, prompting his father to dial 999 and ask they check on Ms Parsons. She was pronounced dead at her flat.

Kristen Katsouris, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "This attack caused the death of a young woman who had provided for her fiancé emotionally and financially.

"In the shower, Amy Parsons was vulnerable to the attack, and powerless to the force exerted by Deakin-White. Knowing he had caused Amy serious harm, he left her lying in the bathroom with catastrophic injuries without calling for help. He even to set the burglar alarm on his way out.

"Ms Parsons moved to London from Australia many years ago. Her family should have felt safe knowing that she was happy, living with her fiancé and in a secure job at an insurance company in the City.

"This sentence will not take away the overwhelming sense of loss this murder has caused Amy Parson's family and friends but we hope it will bring some comfort to them."