Killer jailed after being cleared for the same murder

A man has been jailed for life after being prosecuted for a second time under new double jeopardy laws for killing his ex-girlfriend. Convicted rapist Mario Celaire, 31, pleaded guilty to killing Cassandra McDermott, 19, after he was cleared of beating her and leaving her for dead in October 2001. He has now been convicted following the testimony of Kara Hoyte, also 19, after he was prosecuted for her attempted murder in February 2007, which he later admitted. Thanks to a change in the law on double jeopardy, the earlier jury verdict was quashed by senior judges and earlier this year Celaire, of Sydenham, south London, pleaded guilty to both the manslaughter and the attempted murder charge. Miss Hoyte was left paralysed and brain-damaged after the violent ex-Maidstone United footballer, who had a history of abusing women, savagely beat her with a hammer. London's Old Bailey heard of her "remarkable" courage after she was found lying in her bedroom covered in blood having suffered such severe injuries that parts of her brain were exposed. Yet as she recovered in the days and weeks after the attack she was able to use "writing, drawing and gestures" to show what had happened and who was responsible. She also told police that Celaire, 31, had confessed to the attack on Miss McDermott. Celaire was jailed for life and will serve a minimum term of eight years for killing Miss McDermott. He was given a concurrent life term with at least 23 years for trying to kill Miss Hoyte. There was loud applause and a shout of "rot in hell" as Celaire was jailed. Judge Paul Worsley told Celaire: "You present a very real and continuing danger to young women with whom you enter into a close relationship." Celaire was just 15 when he took part in the gang rape of a vulnerable 17-year-old girl at Lewisham College whom he and the attackers persuaded to come with him and his friends into a basement. He contested the allegation but was found guilty and jailed for five years, reduced on appeal to four years.

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ITN | July 3, 2009

Tags:. .mario. .loud. .shout. .vulnerable. .persuaded