Woman slams sister’s killer as ‘a virus’ as he receives 29-year minimum sentence

Kelly Franklin, 29, was stabbed more than 30 times in a Hartlepool street by her controlling former partner Torbjorn Kettlewell.

He was assisted by his some-time lover Julie Wass, 48, who snooped on her next-door neighbour Ms Franklin for him and helped him track her down on that August evening, then drove him away to hide in woodland.

Mr Justice Jacobs sentenced Kettlewell to life with a minimum term of 29 years and care assistant Wass to eight years for manslaughter and assisting an offender, following a trial at Teesside Crown Court.

Kettlewell held his head in his hands as he was addressed from the witness box by Stacy Franklin.

She told him her sister had fought hard to leave him and start a new life.

The court heard that Ms Franklin hoped to win back care of their children who had been placed in care after Kettlewell accidentally shot one of them with an airgun.

Stacy Franklin said: “She no longer wanted a creature like you in her life.

“She (got) rid (of) you like a nasty virus that had plagued her life for the last 12 years. She was always so much better off without you.

“She was kind, caring, thoughtful and loving. A person like you never deserved her.

“Why couldn’t you just let her go and live her life and be happy?”

She then addressed Wass, a married grandmother and mother of four daughters, saying her actions were heartless and disgusting.

She said: “You are a mother and a grandmother. How would you feel if someone did not warn your child this was going to happen? You were supposedly her friend.”

Jamie Hill QC, prosecuting, said Kettlewell’s offending was aggravated because he took a knife to the scene, it was planned, his victim was vulnerable, and it was carried out in public and a child witnessed the “dreadful spectacle”.

He said Wass hampered police by not telling them she had driven Kettlewell to woods and he was not arrested until 24 hours after the murder.

John Elvidge QC, for Wass, said Kettlewell had exploited her and used her vulnerability.

The judge paid tribute to Ms Franklin, saying she was vibrant, funny and confident, but had been worn down by her abusive relationship with Kettlewell.

He said: “It is never easy for an abused woman to break free, but certainly in the last few months of her life, she did it and did it successfully.”

She came under a barrage of abusive texts from Kettlewell which aimed to undermine and intimidate her, as well as constant snooping from Wass who spied on her and reported back to her younger lover.

The judge said: “The tragedy of this case is that it was her success and determination in breaking free, and staying free, that led to her brutal murder on the streets of Hartlepool.”

Kettlewell, of Oval Grange, Hartlepool, and Wass, of Kipling Road, Hartlepool, had denied murder during a trial which had gone into its third week.

Having helped Kettlewell get away, Wass returned to the murder scene and spoke to a police officer at the cordon, and in a conversation captured on his body-worn camera, explained she knew the killer and victim, but crucially did not say she knew how the knifeman had fled.

CCTV images showed Ms Franklin walking in the area before the attack, not knowing Kettlewell was scouring local shops for her, with Wass nearby in her red Ford Focus.

Kettlewell was a narcissist, obsessed with knives and changed his name from Ian to Torbjorn in honour of a character from the videogame Overwatch.

He had previously threatened to kill Ms Franklin and the social worker he blamed for them losing care of their children.