Southall death: Man on trial over unsolved 1991 sex worker killing

A delivery driver killed and mutilated a sex worker during an "escalating" campaign of violence against women, a court has heard.

David Smith, 66, is on trial over the killing of Sarah Crump in west London in August 1991.

The jury was told Smith had "fascinations and obsessions" about women and had previously admitted to the murder of another woman in 1999.

Smith denies a single charge of murder.

Thirty-three-year-old Sarah Crump was found dead at her flat in Southall on 29 August 1991.

Marks on her body indicated she had been mutilated after being stabbed, the court heard.

Prosecutor William Boyce KC argued that Smith murdered Ms Crump after visiting her flat "to use her services as an escort girl".

Smith previously admitted killing another sex worker, Amanda Walker, in 1999. The 21-year old was also found heavily mutilated, and Smith was jailed.

On Tuesday, Mr Boyce KC told London Inner Crown Court "both women were mutilated after death".

Smith's record of sexual violence was also read to the court - including the rape of a young mother at knifepoint in 1976 and the attempted rape of an escort 10 days before Ms Crump's death.

Smith lived at his parents' home in Hampton, Middlesex, and made deliveries across the surrounding area at the time.

The court heard he began using sex workers with an increasing "intensity" in the lead up to Ms Crump's murder.

Mr Boyce KC said Smith was "someone who developed fascinations and obsessions with some of the women he met in this way".

It is alleged that Smith met with Ms Crump at her flat under the name "Duncan" on the day of the killing.

The prosecution said it was there that Smith had murdered Ms Crump.

It's alleged that Smith left Ms Crump's body "brutally mutilated" with incisions akin to the surgical scars of a woman Smith had become "obsessed with" and who had "rejected his attentions".

Mr Boyce KC said the motivations were clearly "sexual and violent" and the crime "bore a number of similarities" to the murder of Amanda Walker.

Smith denies a single charge of murder and the trial continues.

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