A man who raped and murdered his former fiancee at a luxury hotel in Surrey has been jailed for life.
James Cartwright, 61, killed 54-year-old Samantha Mickleburgh at the five-star Pennyhill Park Hotel in Bagshot last April.
The mother-of-two, from Axminster in Devon, had arranged to celebrate Cartwright’s 60th birthday with him, and only agreed to share a twin room because she “didn’t want him to feel lonely”, a jury was told.
Cartwright was sentenced to a minimum of 28 years in prison after he was found guilty of rape and murder at a trial at Guildford Crown Court.
He phoned 999 the next morning claiming he had discovered her dead beside him in bed.
A jury unanimously convicted him of murder and rape but acquitted him of controlling or coercive behaviour.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) previously described Cartwright as having taken advantage of Ms Mickleburgh’s kindness, launching a “vicious and murderous attack”.
Moses Koroma, from the CPS, said the jury “saw straight through Cartwright’s claims that this had all resulted from her falling out of bed”.
