A convicted murderer who killed his pregnant girlfriend by stabbing and slashing her 23 times at her home in Walthamstow, northeast London, has been sentenced to life with a minimum term of 42 years.
Shaine March, 47, of Surrey Quays, London, attacked Alana Odysseos, 32, when she was in the early stages of pregnancy with her third child on 22 July last year.
Today, March appeared in court by video link, from Belmarsh prison, after initially refusing to come to the Old Bailey.
He did not react as Ms Odysseos’s family spoke of the devastation he had caused them.
‘It’s only sentencing’
Defence barrister, Sandip Patel KC, said March had refused to leave his cell and had told prison staff: “It’s only sentencing.”
March, who previously admitted to manslaughter by diminished responsibility but denied murder, changed his plea and admitted to the murder of Ms Odysseos on the seventh day of his trial.
Following the guilty plea, Mr Justice Murray discharged the jury and lifted reporting restrictions of March’s previous conviction for murder.
It could then be reported that March was aged 21 when he killed a man by stabbing him in the neck at a McDonald’s restaurant in January 2000.
He was convicted of the murder of Andre Drummond, 17, in July that year and jailed before being released on licence in early 2013.
He was then recalled to jail later that year after an assault on another partner in July, and released again in February 2018.
Before the killing, March had been seeing Ms Odysseos for around four months.
The court heard they had an argument hours before over whether to abort their unborn child, with Ms Odysseos heard to have said: “I don’t want to kill my baby.”
Members of the public in Lynnmouth Road rang 999 after finding Ms Odysseos outside her home wearing a nightie and a dressing gown, clutching her right side.
She was bleeding from multiple stab wounds and shouted: “Shaine stabbed me, he stabbed me. Help, help.”
March walked away and the victim died on the ground outside her home, having suffered stab wounds to her chest, stomach, pelvis, shoulders, buttocks, right arm, thighs and lower legs.
Before throwing his mobile phone in a drain, March recorded a voice note saying: “Mum, I just killed a woman, and I’m going back to jail.”
After his arrest, March told police: “I did it. I killed her Alana Odysseos. I killed her hahahaha.”
‘I want him to die in prison’
The victim’s mother, Karen Cronin, said: “Alana, my beautiful kind and loving daughter, left this earth in the most callous and brutal way imaginable.
“The person who has done this to my daughter – who I don’t think deserves the respect of using his name – is evil and a coward. Why did he have to resort to the level of violence he used?
“The anger I feel towards him doesn’t feel Christian so I can no longer go to Church. I will never have forgiveness in my heart.
“I want him to die in prison. He should never be let out.”
‘We will never get over our loss’
Father, Alan Yates, said his daughter changed after meeting March and became a “timid vulnerable person who was not our Alana”.
He said: “I hope a sentence is given that means Shaine March will never cause another family the pain and loss we are suffering. It is unimaginable and we will never get over our loss.
“Every day I wonder why he didn’t walk away. Alana was pregnant with his child. This meant nothing to him.”
